Ex-MP Ali Anwar: Caste census will hold up mirror to govt …Greater caste assertions will rein in communal politics

Now that eight social and apolitical organisations have come together with your organisation, AIPMM, what exactly is your agenda?

Now that we have outlined our objectives of combating militant communalism and ensuring an error-free caste census, we will visit certain districts in Bihar to create larger awareness about the caste survey. We have planned visits to Naugachhia, Khagaria, and Madhubani in the first phase because of the presence of our partner organisations there. The idea is to attract the attention of people and political parties because our ultimate objective is to get OBCs (Other Backward Classes) and EBCs a bigger share of power. When we say Pasmanda, we mean all those left behind among Hindus and Muslims.

Don’t you think such an exercise will further fuel the caste versus religion debate?

Rather, greater caste assertions will rein in communal politics. For the last 90 years, we have seen many communal riots only because of society being sharply divided along religious lines. We will move from caste to class. There is a general perception that the Yadav, Kurmi, and Koeri get more share in government jobs than EBCs. Among Muslims, we have lower castes such as Rayeen, Ansari, Qureshi and others. So let us get complete caste-wise data for proper policy formulation.

Dr Rammanohar Lohia used to talk about casteless society. Are we not moving in the direction of too much caste?

Dr Lohia also talked about moving from jaat (caste) to jamaat (class). Caste is a reality of our society. We will go tell people to fill in their caste as per the state government list to get proper counting done. For example, people who call themselves Mansuri are listed as Dhunia. So, they should list themselves as Dhunia. OBCs are about 19 per cent but EBCs are about 31 per cent. Some people challenge these numbers. Hence, we need to count them all. And once EBCs show their unity, religious politics will take a backseat. Caste census will also hold up a mirror to the government on the economic status of people.

Are you open to taking the support of political parties?

Yes. In course of time, we need their support to build momentum. But we do not want the support of anyone associated with the BJP and the AIMIM, and their religious agenda. We have already requested Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to lay provisions for punishing enumerators for furnishing any wrong information and not just people who are counted.

Are you also planning to campaign outside Bihar?

We have already planned one programme in Haryana in the near future. There is a good number of Mewati Muslims in Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi. We are in touch with like-minded organisations in some states. Once the Bihar caste survey is done, we would put pressure on other states to conduct caste censuses or surveys.

Is there any resistance from clerics?

Yes. They have already started resisting us. Once Muslims are divided along caste lines, those doing politics of religion can benefit. But we do not agree with them as we want government benefits to filter down to EBCs among Hindus and Muslims.