The caste system in India has prevailed for over 3,000 years. There are as many as 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes in the country. With so many castes and sub-castes, politics in the country often revolves around this divide.
While political parties try to formulate policies that could benefit all, they also keep in mind the castes that vote for them. As the number of political parties has increased with time, caste-based politics has also increased.
The issues related to caste pop up every time a state goes to the polls or ahead of parliamentary elections.
In this context, voices are being raised for the holding of a caste census in the country. The issue has become so prominent that India’s main opposition party - Congress Party - has promised such a census in its manifesto.
It is not only Congress that is demanding a caste census but various other opposition parties have also put forth this demand, and the Bihar government in October released a caste census.
However, the federally-ruling BJP seems to not prioritize the issue. Rather, the party is developing a strategy to counter the opposition's demands.
Talking about why the caste census is not BJP’s priority, political expert Vinod Shukla told Sputnik India that it has never been a priority for the party, and the BJP is rather handling the issue diplomatically.
“The main reason behind this is that it doesn’t want to lose the Other Backward Class (OBC) votes to other political parties. The BJP feels that if the party will talk about caste census then its united Hindu votes will disintegrate. Therefore, BJP is trying to strike a balance,” Shukla said.
He further argued that the opposition parties are raising their voices for a caste census because they want to disintegrate the Hindu voter base of the BJP.
The political expert opined that if Hindu voters start voting on the basis of caste it will benefit the other political parties like the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Janata Dal United (JDU) in Bihar and others.
BJP’s Counter to Opposition’s Demands
The BJP has neither supported the demand for a caste census nor declined it. Rather, it has maintained silence over it.
Shukla feels that the saffron party might implement the recommendations of the Rohinin Commission in this respect.
The commission submitted its report to President Droupadi Murmu on July 31 and as per media reports, it proposed to divide a total of 2,633 OBC castes in four subcategories and split the overall 27 percent reservation into 2, 6, 9 and 10 percent, respectively.
“I think the report of the Rohini Commission will be tabled soon and if the government implements the suggestions of the commission of providing reservation within the reservation then the plans of the opposition parties will be foiled,” the political expert said.
He further said that the federally-ruling party would also put forth the development work done under the Modi government.
“Apart from this, the party will also be projecting some of its flagship schemes which have benefitted all the castes and communities. These schemes include Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) under which subsidies are being transferred directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries, Ayushman Bharat Yojana (national public health insurance scheme) under which low income groups get free access to health insurance coverage, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Prime Ministerial Housing Scheme) and many more,” Shukla said.
BJP rallies across Karnataka
© Photo : Twitter/ @narendramodi
On benefits that the Congress would reap from caste census, the expert said that there will be hardly any benefit for them, as the OBC caste never voted for the Congress.
“This is also against Congress’ ideology because former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had opposed this in the parliament saying that this is akin to Divide and Rule policy of the British,” Shukla opined.
He further stated that the polemic about a caste census is just a political gimmick and if any political parties were serious about it then they would have talked about those who are economically backward and deprived.