Caste census amidst Bihar polls: NDA boasts of a coming ‘aandhi’, RJD to demand specifics

“The caste census issue is now in our favour. Yes, you (the Opposition) have been demanding it. But, people will remember the person who did it. What were you doing when you were in power for 58 years? You didn’t do it. It took a Narendra Modi to do it. And Nitish Kumar has already done it in Bihar. To increase the quota based on the caste survey was also the CM’s call. All along, the BJP was with us on this,” JD(U) working president Sanjay Kumar Jha told The Indian Express.

Jha claimed the Opposition’s charge that the NDA opposed a caste census would not have stuck in Bihar anyway, as the JD(U) is a social justice party. “This alliance is formidable. After this, there will be aandhi (storm),” he said.

According to JD(U) national spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, the NDA has already planned statewide meetings and press briefings to drive home the point that caste census was its initiative. Prasad said the alliance’s leaders would also talk about the positions that Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi took on reservation and Mandal politics.

“The RJD was in power in Bihar for 15 years starting in 1990. It did not do a caste census. Nitish Kumar did it. When the RJD was with the Congress at the Centre, it did not put pressure on the government to release the 2011 caste census (SECC) data. Today, the Bihar model has been adopted by the country. The BJP has always said caste census will be done at the right time. Had the Census been announced and had caste enumeration not been a part of it, only then could there have been an argument against the BJP. We will go to people with this message,” Prasad said.

BJP leaders in Bihar feel the government’s decision will also wash away the criticism that the party has been dragging its feet on the issue. In response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi raising the caste issue ahead of the Lok Sabha polls last year, PM Narendra Modi had said there were only four castes: women, youth, farmers and the poor. This created the impression that the BJP was skirting the issue.

“But the 2024 results gave us a jolt and told us we needed to take a call on the issue. The BJP in Bihar is also changing, with members from the OBC (Other Backward Class) and EBC (Extremely Backward Class) communities joining the party in large numbers in the past few years. So, there was pressure within the party as well. All of that will ease. The BJP will be able to shake off the anti-reservation image. This could also help the party emerge as a formidable force on its own in Bihar,” said a leader.

State BJP state vice-president Santosh Pathak insisted the party was never opposed to caste census.

“Caste census was always on the table for the BJP in Bihar. When it was first brought to the Assembly, the NDA was in power, we were part of the alliance with the JD(U) and the HAM (Jitan Ram Manjhi’s party). We strongly endorse the Narendra Modi government’s decision. We have been committed to the prosperity of all sections, and if a caste census is the way, we are certainly with it,” he told The Indian Express.

The view in RJD

The Opposition, meanwhile, is claiming credit for the announcement. Both the RJD and the Congress have said it is their relentless campaign on caste census that forced the NDA’s hand. RJD leaders have quoted their party’s founder Lalu Prasad as having said last September, “We will hold the RSS and the BJP by the ear, make them squat and get the caste census done.”

Beyond this, the Opposition plans to corner the NDA on whether the caste census data will translate into an overall increase in reservations and, if so, how.

“It is good that the government has decided to do a caste census. But Bihar had increased reservation to 65% and the court struck it down. When we sent it (quota hike) to the Centre and asked it to be put in the Ninth Schedule so that it goes out of the purview of judicial review, they didn’t do it. The whole idea of the caste survey was to increase reservations. But the BJP is not making any commitment. This is just an election stunt. We will lead with this narrative,” RJD MP Sudhakar Singh told The Indian Express.