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Journalism of Courage
A day after the Bihar government released the caste survey data, the Urdu press underscored it was too early to conclude that caste-based politics would now end and pointed out that “politics over the issue will only intensify in the days to come”. Some other dailies questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s relentless attack on the Congress during his election campaigns in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh while remaining silent on more pressing issues
Commenting on the Bihar caste survey, Sahara, in its Mumbai edition, wrote that caste-based politics is the reality in India and that political parties choose candidates taking into consideration religious composition and caste equations. According to the paper, while this has helped some political leaders and new leaders have also emerged, there is a large section of the population that still needs help to come out of economic depravity. The Bihar government’s aim for a caste survey was to address this issue, the editorial said.
The daily also posed a question if the Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav-led Bihar government would follow the “jitni abadi utna haq” formula — the rights of any group are proportionate to its population share — and amend the reservation system. “Though it’s too early to answer this question, it cannot be said that the survey will put an end to caste-based politics. Tejashwi has already made it clear that the INDIA bloc will make this a pan-India issue. It won’t be a surprise if calls for a caste survey at the national level intensify in the days to come,” wrote the Sahara.
The Hyderabad-based Siasat said the Bihar government’s caste survey would stir a political storm and the BJP would find it difficult to wade through the situation. As a caveat, the editorial, however, said, “It remains to be seen how the party reacts to this.”
The editorial underscored the BJP’s dilemma, saying the party can’t speak against the survey in Bihar and at the Centre it can’t extend support to the move. The paper said some voices believed that the number of people belonging to the backward and very backward classes was very high in the country. “Officially, the budget for their welfare is insufficient and measures are not taken for them,” the daily said.
“It is also alleged that the BJP is reluctant to conduct the caste survey so that it remains in power by doing a lip service to the welfare causes by hiding the actual number of the backward classes,” the daily said, adding that in the days to come many more states might demand caste-based surveys.
In a scathing editorial, the Bengaluru-based Salar said PM Modi had been relentless in targeting the Congress even after being in power for over nine years. The paper said the PM labelled Rajasthan, where elections are due soon, as the “crime capital of India” but was still silent on Manipur where violence continues. The paper also noted the “conspicuous silence’ of the PM on pressing issues such as rising unemployment and high inflation. “The PM has been attacking the Congress for the last 10 years, which doesn’t even have the status of an Opposition party in Parliament,” it said, adding the Modi government was scared of a “weak” Opposition.
