​Turn and churn: on caste count and next Census 

The Centre’s decision to include caste enumeration in the next national Census marks a sharp departure for the ruling BJP from its previous position. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in 2024 targeted the Congress election manifesto promise of a caste census as a reflection of its ‘urban Naxal’ thinking. During the general election last year, BJP leaders had asked the people for a massive Lok Sabha majority to remodel the Constitution. This promise of a constitutional overhaul was seen by OBC and Dalit groups as a threat to dismantle caste reservations, and partly explains why the BJP fell short of an electoral majority. In 2015, the RSS chief’s call for a debate on caste-based reservation led to setbacks for the BJP in the Bihar Assembly elections. The Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly election victories in 2024 suggested that the BJP’s plank of Hindu unity, and its resistance to caste-based politics, continued to retain electoral salience. But, as it turns out, the BJP was probably unsure of its electoral ground and feared or sensed an undercurrent in favour of caste census that it could no longer politically ignore, particularly in Bihar which will vote later this year.

It is now a race to claim credit. The BJP and the Opposition have accused each other of undermining social justice. National formations, which include the BJP, the Congress and the Left, have historically taken an ambiguous, if not hostile, view towards caste claims. Subaltern parties that mobilised OBC and Dalit groups in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar displaced all national parties from these States in the 1990s. The BJP responded by turning more inclusive towards the OBCs, that has culminated in its continuing electoral dominance since 2014. The Congress, under Rahul Gandhi, started espousing caste justice, in a remarkable turn in the party’s history. Apart from a caste census, Mr. Gandhi now seeks the removal of the 50% ceiling in reservations, and an expansion of reservation in private educational institutions. Though there is no evidence yet that the Congress has or will make electoral gains from the new stirring, it is evident that the BJP is worried. The counting of castes and communities unleashed social forces in colonial India that continue till date, and a comprehensive caste count, the first since 1931, is set to unmake and remake many political and social realities. A caste census would not automatically result in reservation according to population figures, which is obnoxious; as Article 16(4) of the Constitution makes it clear, special provision for reservation in favour of any backward class can be made only if such community is inadequately represented in public services. A caste census should not be allowed to ossify social divisions, but only used to better target benefits of affirmative action.