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BJP today has both ‘Mandal’ and ‘Kamandal’: Sushil Modi
In an exclusive interview, Sushil Kumar Modi said the BJP was in support of states conducting caste censuses and would consider increasing reservation for OBCs
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi said that the BJP is no longer viewed as the party of upper castes and the upper middle class and that it receives the support of those following both ‘Mandal’ and ‘Kamandal’ ideologies.
In an interview for HT’s podcast First Voice, Last Word, Modi clarified the BJP’s stance on conducting caste census and the implementation of reservations based on their results.
This interview was conducted prior to the results of Bihar’s caste census being announced. The Bihar government on Monday released the report on the much-awaited caste survey.
Modi said that leaders like Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Yadav could no longer use “Mandal politics” to win support (referring to the Mandal commission, which identifies socially and educationally backward classes in India and recommended reservations for them), as the BJP now has a more significant presence among OBCs and Modi is known as an OBC leader.
BJP today has both ‘Mandal’ and ‘Kamandal’, Modi said. He went on to explain that ‘Kamandal’ refers to “the ideology of Hindutva and Ram Janambhoomi, and the ‘Kand’ nationalism”.
He added that though the BJP was once known as the party of upper castes and the upper middle class for Brahmins and Baniyas, it is no longer so.
Modi said that the BJP will always have more support than regional parties as it will never fall into the trap of playing “Mandal Kand”. But their core vote bank now includes the Other BAckward Classes (OBCs), Economically Backward Classes (EBCs), Dalits and all other backward and upper classes as well, he said.
He added that if the Congress ruled the country for 50 years with an alliance full of “contradictions”, consisting of Brahmins Muslims and Dalits, the BJP could also have a diverse vote bank.
Modi emphasised that the BJP was ready to consider increasing reservations for backward classes.
Though the Supreme Court had ruled in the Sawhney & Others vs Union of India case that reservation could not increase beyond 50%, this proportion has already been crossed in many states so it is not a limit that cannot be “exceeded”, said the MP. Modi said that the BJP supports conducting caste censuses by states and has done so in Bihar and Karnataka.
He claimed that the RJD and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) wanted to brand the BJP as the party of “anti-backwards classes” and filed public interest litigations (PILs) against the publication of the results of the Bihar census.
The Union government had in August this year submitted that only the Centre is empowered under the Constitution to carry out a census, seeking intervention in a host of petitions that have questioned the validity of the Bihar government’s caste survey.
Similarly, another affidavit was filed to do away with the paragraph that disputed the authority of states to conduct “any action akin to the census”.
Modi was also critical of the Congress’s support of conducting both national and state-level caste surveys.
He questioned why the party (Congress) has not conducted the surveys in states like Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where they are in power. He questioned the chief minister Siddaramaiah-led Karnataka government’s decision to not release the results of the caste census conducted in the state in 2015.
However, he said, the BJP believes that it is not “desirable and practical” to conduct a national caste census due to the size and demographic diversity of the country, particularly its 3 million castes.
When asked about the 2011 census, Modi said it had been a “socioeconomic caste census” and that it had failed, so no government could release its data.
Modi also spoke on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Mohan Bhagwat’s statements on whether there should be a shelf life for reservations. He claimed that Bhagwat had never made such a statement and that his words were twisted.
“We are in touch with the Sangh, and I can assure you that they are in favour of reservation and Dattatreya Hosable even said that until there is discrimination in the society, the reservation would continue,” said Modi.
The Bihar government on Monday released the report of the much-awaited caste survey.
The findings of the caste survey, given the nod by the Bihar cabinet in February 2023, showed that Backward Classes (BC) constitute 27.12% of the population in Bihar, Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) 36.01%, scheduled castes (SC) 19.65%, scheduled tribe (ST) 1.68% and general 15.52%.
The caste survey report has revealed that 63% of the state’s population comprises of OBCs and EBCs. The survey also found 81.99% of Bihar’s total population was Hindu, followed by 17.7% Muslims.
