Though many Opposition parties have long appealed for caste to be included among the categories counted in the census, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has stridently opposed this demand. The Hindutva party claims that the Opposition is using the issue to divide Hindus.
Yet, in a surprising announcement on Wednesday, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs said that caste would be enumerated in the next census.
A caste census is expected to shed light on the number of members of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes and could bolster the push for greater representation and power.
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Opposition bloc, led by the Congress, had alleged that the BJP wanted to win a sweeping majority to amend the Constitution and remove caste-based reservations. This is likely to have caused the BJP to lose ground in some constituencies and its majority in Parliament.
In the run-up to Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to demands for a caste census as “Maoist thinking”. In a television interview, Modi said that those demanding a caste census belong to the same school of thought as “urban naxals”.
During the Maharashtra assembly elections later in November, Hindutva hardliner and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath coined a slogan that alluded that such a census would be fractious. “Batenge toh katenge,” he declared. If we are divided we will be cut down.
But after BJP allies and even some of its own state leaders expressed alarm at this, Modi changed tack with a less polarising slogan: “Ek hai toh safe hai” – if we are united, we will be safe.
Only a week ago, in the wake of the terror attack in Pahalgam in which attackers picked victims after establishing which religion they belonged to, BJP social media handles posted AI-generated Ghibli-style memes and images apparently mocking the Opposition’s caste-based politics.
The party’s Karnataka handle, for instance, has repeatedly targeted Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and state leaders after the Congress government tabled the results of a 2015 caste survey before the cabinet in April.
The BJP stuck to this line of attack – until Wednesday.
Here are three more instances of BJP MPs and senior leaders expressing disapproval of the Opposition’s focus on caste. Some of them directly speak about the caste census while others criticise what they claim is the Opposition’s caste-based politics.
On March 16, Union Minister and BJP veteran Nitin Gadkari, citing the example of former president APJ Abdul Kalam, said one becomes great because of their qualities, not their caste, class, religion or sex.
Speaking in Hindi at a convocation in Nagpur, he said, “Jo karega jaat ki baat, usko kaske marunga laat” – the one who speaks of caste, I will kick them firmly.
Two months after the Lok Sabha election result, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey in a television interview in August claimed that a caste census would “100% reduce the reservation for Other Backward Classes” and result in India “breaking into several parts like Pakistan and Bangladesh”.
“Yeh desh khandith khandith ho jayega,” he said. The country will be destroyed. He claimed that the Congress party’s main agenda was to give reservation to Muslims. He also argued there are “44 lakh castes” in India and even “computers” would be unable to process the complexities of the caste system.
Speaking in Lok Sabha in July, BJP member Anurag Thakur said there is a lot of talk about a caste census and OBCs and then targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi: “Jiski jaat ka pata nahi woh ganana ki baat kar raha hai” – the one whose caste is untraceable is demanding a caste census.
Gandhi’s mixed family heritage is a common talking point in Hindutva circles.
In his interview, Dubey had also asked how Gandhi’s caste can be “explained” and demanded to know on what basis the Congress leader is a “Brahmin”.
