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By Poonam I Kaushish<\/strong><\/p>\n \n Circa 1901: \u201cI don\u2019t believe in caste in the modern sense as it connotes distinction in status and is an evil,\u201d Mahatma Gandhi. After him, Ambedkar waged a relentless struggle against caste arguing for its annihilation to rebuild a social democracy. Alas, from a social phenomenon that divided people, caste has become central to our political system. Not who, but what you are.<\/p>\n Circa 2025: Call it a turning point or milestone every Party wants to know the caste composition of a voter, constituency before selecting a candidate. Succinctly, its\u2019 the State catching up with the lived socio-economic and political reality as it shapes hierarchy and discrimination, culture and belonging. That too, by using Ambedkar\u2019s name to perpetuate a system that he fought.<\/p>\n BJP which battled caste surveys that militated against its concept of Hindu unity has today embraced it marking a momentous ideological shift. Reason? Caste is at the heart of Indian politics as a mobilization tool polarised on caste basis with elections being fought on caste considerations. Voters are regressively but decisively voting along caste lines. The upsurge of OBCs and their demand for a more equitable participation and representation make quotas and queues the centerpiece of affirmative action policies at the Centre.<\/p>\n Post its\u2019 below par performance in last year\u2019s Lok Sabha polls specially in UP BJP decided to bite the bullet aided by RSS putting its seal of approval and Bihar allies JD (U) and LJP plugging it. Blunting India Bloc shrill demand for caste census, it wrested the idea and announced it. No matter, it\u2019s recent assertion of recognizing only four castes: women, farmers, poor and youth.<\/p>\n Besides, it is worried about possible OBC attrition in elections in crucial States Bihar this year, followed by Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala 2026, the Saffron Sangh now seeks a broader social coalition that can translate into pan-India support. With Kamandal (Hindutva) as a steady ideological base, BJP is now experimenting with MandaI 2.0 aimed at socially inclusive vote consolidation.<\/p>\n Consequently, as caste census becomes the central focus in national politics the Party doesn\u2019t want to remain a mute spectator, instead become an active proponent signalling its intent to lead rather than resist by including caste enumeration in the coming census.<\/p>\n In fact, a BJP insider avers the Party has repeatedly recalibrated its social engineering to suit evolving political realities and forms Modi\u2019s rise in 2014\u00a0 when it shed its \u2018suit boot ki sarkar\u2019 image through welfare schemes like Ujjwala Awas Yojana to appeal to poorer sections across castes. Post Supreme Court\u2019s dilution of the SC\/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act 2018, NDA Government restored its provision despite backlash from upper castes in States.<\/p>\n Thereafter, it introduced a 10% Economically Weaker Section (EWS) to retain upper castes votes. Thereby, showcasing its responsiveness to social undercurrents which worked in Maharashtra and Haryana but not Jharkhand resulting in two consecutive defeats.<\/p>\n Pertinently, Bihar, Karnataka and Telangana have completed caste surveys. Interestingly, the results also subtly endorsed the idea of giving representation to Muslims based on their caste by categorising various Muslim communities under different caste umbrellas.<\/p>\n But what will be done with that knowledge? BJP\u2019s ally in Bihar JD(U) released its caste survey in October 2023 as part of RLD-Congress Mahagathbandhan whereby 63% of the State\u2019s 13 crore population belonged to castes under EBC and OBC categories SC 19.65% and upper castes 15.52%.<\/p>\n In Congress-ruled Karnataka Muslims are the single largest community 12.87%, next SC 12% with politically and economically powerful Lingayats 11.09% third, Vokkaligas10.31% fourth, Kurubas 7.38%, ST 7.1%, ST Valmiki-Nayaka 30,31,656 (5.07%). In Telangana 56.33% are Backward Classes, SCs\/STs 17.43% and 10.45%, Muslim 12.56%.<\/p>\n Currently, BJP sees OBCs as two blocks \u2014- dominant and non-dominant, upper and lower. It intends to woo dominant castes like Yadavs, Kurmis, and Kushwahas in Bihar and UP and Vokkaligas in Karnataka. Any sub-categorisation will close doors on these sub-castes and make Mandal 1 progenies Akhilesh, Lalu and Nitish stronger in their communities.<\/p>\n Both BJP and Congress recognize they have to address caste as a political category, not through patronage. True, enumerating caste will help with accurate information \u2014 size, literacy levels, occupational structures. It helps structuring opportunity and social mobility. It influences choices and trajectories from education, employment, birth, marriage and death ritiuals. It would immediately be visible if a caste is denied basic facilities and infra.<\/p>\n A caste census would help address historical injustices and discrimination, be useful in formulating appropriate policies to target Government welfare schemes and policies ensuring they reach intended beneficiaries. Thereby, giving the rootless down-trodden a new identity and attitudinal changes.<\/p>\n Questionably, none are wiser how JD(U) or Congress-ruled Karnataka and Telangana have used surveys for targeted interventions since there release? Also, caste sizes will always be a hot potato. See how Karnataka is facing deluge of accusations of inaccuracy from both within and BJP. What use caste enumeration if its outcome is limited to power politics?<\/p>\n Already, BJP is worried about the running feud between UP\u2019s upper caste Rajput Chief Minister Yogi with OBC MLAs alongside OBC allies Apna Dali and Nishad Parties Anupriya Patel and Sanjay Nishad. As also in Bihar.<\/p>\n Indisputably, caste is a major socio-political fault line which will influence political alignments and voter choices and form the core of affirmative action by the State. A census will force Parties to reset their approach to political representation questions and reshape their stance on reservation.<\/p>\n Truth is Governments have limited capacity to wholesale improve socio-economic inequalities as caste numbers are likely to spur agitations for more quotas in the name of affirmative action which is all a Government can do. To pull people out of economic backwardness Government needs to facilitate economic investment, education and training of youth for employment.<\/p>\n Without these pillars no amount of data collected and collated it is going to be status quo for those discriminated against and forced to remain socially backward. Fundamental to progress is education, health, mobility, law and order and availability and access to justice. A caste census\u00a0 is not vital to ensure this. Also it could ensnare one in an \u2018identity trap\u2019 which should be dealt with simultaneously.<\/p>\n A lot will depend on how the caste questionnaire is designed along-with connecting the dots between data and Government policy. Certainly, the census will pave the way for delimitation exercise \u2014 OBC numbers and the gaps they point to may blunt the North-South fault line. It may lead to demands for extending quotas and for removing Supreme Court\u2019s cap of 50% reservation.<\/p>\n Clearly, caste is a slippery slope as Janata Dal\u2019s VP Singh of Mandal 1.0 learnt the hard way. There are many challenges ahead. For BJP it is a risky gamble as it goes against its ideological grain and presumed interest of its oldest and loyal support base. However, this pivot is inescapable as it pursues the idea of a consolidated Hindu society. If played smartly, it may help the Party sweep aside the Mandal legacy and assume ownership of OBC empowerment.<\/p>\n In the ultimate, the fight for getting the upper hand and votes has been reduced to politics of optics and perception, underscoring present reality and exposes the socio-political undercurrents at play. Time will tell how the gambit of caste census plays out and shapes the future of Indian democracy.\u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 INFA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kamandal = Mandal 2.0\u00a0 By Poonam I Kaushish Circa 1901: \u201cI don\u2019t believe in caste in the modern sense as it connotes distinction in status and is an evil,\u201d Mahatma Gandhi. After him, Ambedkar waged a relentless struggle against caste arguing for its annihilation to rebuild a social democracy. Alas, from a social phenomenon that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-263570","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263570\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}