Caste census: Stalled Mandal report to still-born SECC, BJP readies its case against Congress

“The exercise will be the first ever caste census post-Independence and, the fact is, it will be under a BJP leadership, despite the Congress and the Gandhis being at the helm of the affairs for decades,” a source said, adding that a Congress-led government’s one attempt at this had also come a cropper. “The UPA government spent around Rs 5,000 crore to conduct a survey (Socio Economic and Caste Census), but could not release the data.”

On Thursday, the BJP circulated a letter written by then Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj to UPA Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in 2010, saying her party supported a caste census. “The party reiterates that caste can be canvassed in the on-going Census/NPR exercise (due in 2011). We agree that caste should be canvassed in such a manner and at such a stage that it does not affect the integrity of the head count (Census),” Swaraj wrote.

The UPA government, led by Manmohan Singh had chosen to go in for an SECC, delinked from the Census.

The BJP will point out that the Modi government’s announcement of a caste census was another example of the party’s government taking significant reforms to their logical conclusion, the source said, “be it the GST, 10% EWS quota, direct bank transfers through Aadhaar, the women’s reservation Bill or constitutional status for the OBC commission”.

BJP leaders also point to the Congress government at the Centre sitting on the Mandal Commission report for a long time, and which, once unveiled under the National Front government led by V P Singh, changed the contours of politics by bringing backward classes to the fore.

“The Congress initiatives in this regard were knee-jerk reactions that lacked determination and conviction,” the source said, adding that now nobody associates these moves with the Congress. “This time, it will be no different.”

The BJP believes the Opposition may clamour to take credit for the caste census decision, but that it doesn’t have the firepower to sustain this in the face of the BJP’s admittedly larger and stronger publicity network.

A BJP leader said: “The focus of our campaign will be that the Congress lacks the political will and niyat (intention) to go ahead with the reforms it initiated. Basically, the party always deceives people in the name of reforms, but shows no sincerity to bring them about.”

On the timing of the announcement – even some BJP leaders admitted to being taken by surprise – the party says it is hardly trying to dodge the Pahalgam attack fallout as alleged by some quarters but rather conveying a powerful message of “business as usual”.

“The Modi government has shown to the world that it is going ahead with its business and reform initiatives,” said a senior leader, adding that this is even while pursuing a range of options to corner Pakistan over the Pahalgam killings.

In the immediate future, the BJP believes Prime Minister Narendra Modi has virtually “checkmated” the Congress and RJD in context of the Bihar Assembly elections later this year, where caste always dominates the conversation. The source said the BJP could now steer the narrative towards governance and development – issues on which both the Modi government and the JD(U)-led government it is a part of in Bihar hold a position of advantage.

Some BJP leaders have in the recent past come out publicly against a caste-based census. In July 2021, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said in a written reply in Parliament that it was a policy decision by the government not to enumerate caste-wise population other than SCs and STs.

In the Monsoon Session of the current Parliament in July, former Union minister Anurag Thakur caused an uproar when he dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s demand for a caste census, saying: “Jiski jaat ka pata nahin, woh ganana ki baat karta hai (The person whose caste is not known is talking about a census).”

However, leaders are now expected to fall in line, with many pointing to the fact that the government’s caste census announcement came a day after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat met Modi at the Prime Minister’s residence.

There are some in the BJP who believe the caste census move also pushes the Congress on the defensive over the “Muslim quota” issue – Congress-ruled Karnataka has a provision for the same, but it goes back years and was in place even during the BJP’s years in power in the state.

As per these leaders, Gandhi must clarify now whether he stands for caste-based quota or religion-based reservation. “The BJP has always maintained that it is for a caste census, but will not do it for political gains. However, the pertinent question today is whether the Congress will push for Muslim reservation?” a senior BJP leader said.