The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Monday signalled its support for the caste census, a key demand that the Opposition has raised in the past few months, The Indian Express reported.

However, the Hindutva group, which is the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, added that the caste census should not be used as a “political tool” during elections.

“The RSS thinks that definitely, for all welfare activities, particularly those targeting such communities or castes which are lagging behind – for whom special attention is needed – for that, if sometimes the government needs the numbers, it is a well-established practice,” the RSS’s publicity in-charge Sunil Ambekar said.

At a press conference on the last day of a coordination meeting that the RSS held in Kerala’s Palakkad city, Ambekar said that the government has collected such data before, and it can do it again.

“But it should be done only for the welfare of those communities and castes,” he added, according to The Indian Express. “It should not be used as a political tool for elections.”

Ambekar also spelled out the RSS’s stand on the sub-classification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, saying that no such step should be taken without the consensus of the communities involved.

On August 1, a seven-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, in a 6:1 majority verdict, overruled the court’s 2004 judgement, which held that Scheduled Castes formed a homogenous group and hence could not be sub-divided into categories.

‘Will PM hijack another Congress guarantee,’ asks Opposition party

The Congress on Monday urged the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to spell out its stance on the caste census more clearly, and asked whether the Centre would now implement the move.

“The RSS should state clearly if it is in favour of the caste census or opposed to it,” Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said.

Party MP Jairam Ramesh asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi would “hijack another Congress guarantee”, now that the RSS had “given its green flag”. He, however, asked what authority the RSS had to make pronouncements about the subject.

“Who is the RSS to give permission to a caste census?” Ramesh asked.

The Congress MP also asked why the RSS had maintained a “mysterious silence on the need for a constitutional amendment to do away with the 50% cap on reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes”.

The Congress had promised a nationwide caste census in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha election. Proponents of such a census argue that it will lead to identifying the true population of the country’s Other Backward Classes and other castes, helping pave the way for policies such as expanded quotas.

BJP’s stand

In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in 2021, the BJP-led Union government had said that the “exclusion of information regarding any other caste”, apart from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, from the decadal census was a conscious policy decision.

It had said that collecting data on the number of members of the Other Backward Classes would be administratively difficult, and that the figures would lack accuracy.

However, the BJP has softened its stance towards the exercise since then.

In November, Home Minister Amit Shah said that the BJP did not oppose the caste census, but that any decision about conducting the exercise would be taken after due deliberation and wide consultations.

BJP chief JP Nadda said on April 12 that the BJP was not against the caste census, but alleged that the Congress wanted to carry out the exercise to divide society.

India had last conducted an exercise to count the population of all caste groups in 1931. In independent India, census reports have published data noting the population of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes but not other caste groups.

The Bihar government had conducted a caste survey in two phases last year. The findings of its survey revealed that the Other Backward Classes and the Extremely Backward Classes constitute over 63% of the state’s population.

Also read: Why the BJP has softened its stance on caste census