Their electoral stock is dwindling compared to the BJP – counting exercise may help them garner political capital
Their electoral stock is dwindling compared to the BJP – counting exercise may help them garner political capital
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, until recently, has been keeping his political cards close to his chest, revealing them at moments of his choice and protesting public debate and the urgency of events – whether in the order of announcement . presidential candidate of the National Democratic Alliance, of which his Janata Dal (United) is a constituent, or Agneepath Scheme For recruitment in the Armed Forces. However, what he has taken loud and clear is that demand for caste based census
Read also: explainer | Bihar government’s caste-count
After presiding over the all-party meeting in Patna on 1st June, He announced that Bihar will start caste based census, The case of caste based census has been made frequently. But Mr Kumar’s push for a census now reflects the reluctance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to lead the NDA on the issue, as well as at the time of the demand.
Rationale for Census
The census, conducted at the beginning of every decade, does not record any caste data other than those listed as Scheduled Castes. In August 1990, the VP Singh government announced its decision to implement the Mandal Commission report, which gave reservation to castes grouped together as Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The last census to record caste was in 1931, and the Mandal panel’s determination that OBCs constitute 52% of the population was greatly affected by this. It was not clear then and neither is it now whether it was 52% up-to-date. Is it more, or is it less? Are only some of the OBC castes taking advantage of reservation? Only caste based census can answer these questions.
This is the argument deployed by Mr Kumar and other opposition parties including his main political rival in Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
The June 1 announcement didn’t come out of the blue. The Bihar assembly had unanimously passed a resolution in February 2019 demanding a caste-based census, and then another exactly a year later. This is a historically long standing demand that successive governments in Delhi have sought to ignore. So far, few state governments have conducted such exercises on their own.
In July 2021, JDU once again increased the pressure on the center By passing a resolution in its national executive meeting held in Delhi that a delegation of its MPs would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a caste-based census. The Prime Minister did not entertain the delegation. But he met Home Minister Amit Shah. Then Mr. Kumar decided to step in on his own. In August last year, he led a delegation of 10 parties to meet the Prime Minister in Delhi.
center stand
A month later, on 23 September, the Center clarified its stand in a submission to the Supreme Court. The Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment told the court that the caste census of backward classes was “administratively difficult and cumbersome”. It was responding to a writ petition filed by the state of Maharashtra to collect caste data of backward classes in the state while conducting Census 2021.
The government, in its affidavit, stated that the exclusion of any caste other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was a “conscious policy decision” adopted since the 1951 Census, and that there was a policy of “official discouragement of caste”. Further, the government said that enumeration of backward castes was an “administratively difficult and cumbersome” exercise.
The central government had shown no inclination to conduct a caste census in 2011, when the Congress, under pressure from allies, announced the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) to obtain data on the caste and economic status of each. household in the country. The socio-economic data of the census was made public in 2015, but the caste figures were withheld, citing discrepancies. In its September affidavit, the Center explained why the data was unusable. The government said the number of castes in the 1931 survey was 4,147 while SECC figures show that there were over 46 lakh different castes. The government was unable to explain this exponential increase in this figure.
Mr. Kumar’s renewed demand for a caste-based census is part of his effort to reclaim his earlier leadership position in the NDA in Bihar, which has shrunk significantly after the Bihar 2020 elections. The JD(U) won just 43 seats, compared to over 70 five years ago. Though he still remains the chief minister, the caste-based census could help him once again dominate the political narrative in the state.
Caste-based parties, including the JD(U), fear that their political relevance is fading. The warning signs came louder and clearer with the victory of the BJP in the 2019 general elections. In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance, hailed as a unique political experiment that appeared formidable on paper, went past the BJP. The alliance had sought to bring together Yadavs, Dalits and Muslims. The BJP countered this by mobilizing a very diverse but large caste coalition of non-Yadav backward castes. Many Yadavs and Dalits also went under the umbrella of the larger Hindutva of the BJP. A similar story unfolded in Bihar, where the RJD thwarted the careful balancing of caste equations by bringing together allies from all communities. The alliance could not get any seat except the Kishanganj Lok Sabha seat which the Congress had won.
The caste-based census, while administratively necessary, would also benefit the JD(U) and RJD politically. It will advance the casteist narrative over Hindutva. Instead of Kamandal, Mandal will again come into focus. And this is the reason why BJP is afraid of it.
Towards 2025 elections
BJP’s ambition is to make a place in the chief minister’s office in Bihar on its own in the next round of assembly elections to be held in 2025 in the state. And that would require the party to drive away voters from the captive vote bank of both. JD(U) and RJD. This can only be done if the caste-based narrative is replaced by a ‘Hindutva-development’ narrative that incorporates caste.
The caste-based census is a huge exercise, and there are still three years left for the next round of assembly elections. The BJP’s hope would be that the exercise would not be completed before those elections.