Caste matters: Behind caste census decision, a course correction by BJP and Congress

The caste census decision will allow the BJP to reaffirm Prime Minister Narendra Modi's credentials as the champion of social justice. (PTI/File)

The Centre's go-ahead to include caste enumeration in the next Census has seen a string of remarks by leaders of the NDA as well as the Opposition, rushing to claim credit for the decision.

The government has claimed that the Congress limited its agenda on caste census to mere rhetoric while it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government that is implementing it. The Congress, on the other hand, has claimed that it was due to the pressure it exerted on the government that resulted in the "surprise" decision on a pan-India caste census. Other Opposition parties like the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal also threw their hat in the ring, crediting their leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav for the government's move.

The war for credit, however, comes after a prolonged battle on the issue of social justice and who can claim to be its true champion and custodian. The decision has seen the Congress as well as the BJP make course corrections on the issue of caste, the politics based on it as well as the need for a caste-based census.

Congress: A historic shift

Congress leader and Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi first raised the issue of a pan-India caste census in September 2023 during the debate on the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament. The debate saw Congress leaders including Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi dramatically turn their focus on the issue of representation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and holding a caste census. Rahul argued that caste census was key to giving participation to OBCs, Dalits, tribals and women.

However, the stand on caste census Rahul articulated for the Congress isn't one that the party had maintained on caste-based politics, or even reservations, over the years. Traditionally seen as a party strongly stacked against divisions in society on caste lines, Rahul Gandhi's remarks were then seen as a massive course correction.

The Mandal Commission, constituted in 1978 by the Morarji Desai government, was only implemented in August 1990 when the government led by Congress rebel Vishwanath Pratap Singh announced its decision to implement the recommendations of the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes. Notably, successive governments of the Congress sat on the report despite the Commission submitting its report to the government in 1980.

During the historic debate on the implementation of the Mandal Commission report in Parliament, then Leader of Opposition Rajiv Gandhi made a strong case against caste being the sole criterion for deciding benefits.

"The Prime Minister does not have the guts to stand up and say whether he believes in a casteless society or does not believe in a casteless society. It is very sad. Sir, Raja Sahib (Prime Minister VP Singh) is putting caste into our society, once again. He is ensuring that caste does not go out by this action and by sticking to his guns on this issue of caste… Sir, this Government is creating a vested interest in casteism and the country is going to pay a very heavy price for this,” he had said.

The contrast between Rahul Gandhi seeking the removal of the 50 percent cap on caste-based reservations and what his father Rajiv Gandhi said on the quota system couldn't be more stark. Rajiv, for instance, saw the implementation of caste-based reservations as a bid to "divide our country on caste and religion". Rahul, on the other hand, sees the caste census (that could eventually lead to revision in quotas), higher reservations and the private sector being brought under its ambit as an imperative for a new growth paradigm".

BJP and RSS: A necessary evil

The central BJP, which today claims to be the champion of social justice, happened to be the only party that was opposed to the idea of a caste census when even its own state unit joined ranks with the Nitish Kumar government in seeking a detailed caste enumeration in Bihar.

On July 20, 2021, the Centre informed Parliament that it had decided not to enumerate caste-wise population other than SCs and STs in Census. "The Government of India decided it as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise population other than SCs and STs in Census," Union Minister of State (Home Affairs), Nityanand Rai, said in Parliament.

The BJP's change of heart on caste census came much after the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of the BJP, softening its stance on the matter. In September last year, RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, a strong adversary to the idea of reservations, cautioned against using caste census as a political tool, but noted that the government needs numbers for all welfare activities, particularly those lifting castes and communities which are lagging behind.

It came as no surprise then that on Tuesday, a day before the government announced the decision, Bhagwat met PM Modi at his New Delhi residence where the issue is believed to have been discussed.

Moreover, the BJP's shift in stance comes as a corrective measure taken in view of the damage the Opposition managed to inflict in the general elections last year, depriving the party of forming a government on its own for the first time since the party came to power at the Centre in 2014.

The Hindu consolidation that BJP had manage to engineer saw a significant chunk of OBCs, particularly in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, almost fell apart in 2024 as the Opposition, armed with a Mandal-era narrative of Dalit-OBC-Muslim consolidation, managed to shore up significant support in states that account for the most Lok Sabha seats and also acted as states where the BJP drew its maximum strength from.

Notably, the Congress and other INDIA bloc parties had made caste census a centrepoint of their campaign alongside the narrative that the BJP was out to finish the Constitution. The course correction aside, the decision on caste census is also driven by the BJP's intent to steal a march in caste-based politics and adapt to hanging realities just like it did in the post-Mandal era.