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Journalism of Courage
First, the Ramcharitmanas row and then a renewed push for a caste census in Uttar Pradesh. With the Samajwadi Party (SP) going all out to project itself as a party of Dalits and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), the BJP has responded on the matter, with senior leader and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya saying the party is not against a caste census.
Reiterating to The Indian Express this position, Maurya said only the BJP government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had worked for the welfare and uplift of all sections, including people who are poor, those from backward classes, Scheduled Castes (SCs), and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
“They (SP) were silent when the SP itself was ruling in UP and the Congress was ruling at the Centre with the SP’s support. The demand they are raising at present is merely an anti-Modi campaign. But the public rejects such demands. Our government is working in the interest of the backwards, Dalits, SCs, and people from the general category who are poor,” said the Deputy CM.
He added, “When the SP was in power, they recruited from only their own caste and a few districts. They considered only their own caste as a backward caste. However, at present candidates of all backward castes are getting recruited.”
A BJP leader, requesting anonymity, said, “The BJP has adopted a wait-and-watch strategy. The government may order a caste census if required. But that will be more harmful to the SP because that will expose how the SP favoured only one caste of Yadavs during the tenure of its government and made them economically and socially powerful. A caste census will also find out who owns houses, bungalows, cars and SUVs, landed properties etc.”
State OBC Welfare Minister and BJP OBC Morcha state president Narendra Kashyap said, “After their alliance failed, as issues of castes and religion did not benefit them, the SP is now trying to create confusion among people. They have started making comments on the Ramchatritmanas.”
Kashyap added, “When the country is going to preside over a G-20 summit and UP is hosting a global investors’ summit and development is touching the sky, the SP is diverting the minds of people and ignoring the state’s development. When they (SP) were in government, then nobody stopped them from getting a caste census done. Why did they not get it done?”
During the Assembly elections, the caste census featured on the agenda of the SP-led Opposition alliance, with party chief Akhilesh Yadav promising to initiate the survey within three months of coming to power. However, after the polls, the SP had placed the demand largely on the back burner.
At the time of the Assembly elections, the BJP had not responded to the demand. Its reluctance possibly was the result of its belief that data on different castes, especially OBC groups, might give a new lease of life to regional parties and lead to demands for the reshaping of the OBC quota in central government jobs and educational institutions.
The caste census demand returned to focus in UP politics last month after SP leader and former state minister Swami Prasad Maurya’s comments on the Ramcharitmanas. Akhilesh did not pull up Maurya, and instead included the senior leader in the party’s national executive committee. When asked about Maurya’s comments, the SP chief linked the row and the caste census demand, saying he would ask Maurya to join the movement for a caste census in the state.
In a statement on Monday, Akhilesh said the SP had been demanding a caste census for a long time to give backward classes and Dalits their rights and respect while the BJP government was opposing it. “The BJP is scared of a caste census,” the SP president said. “A caste census and data on all the castes are required to give the backwards and Dalits their due rights and end discrimination and the injustice being done to them. If the caste data becomes available, government scheme benefits will reach the needy people.”
Last month, Akhilesh lauded Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his ruling alliance for starting the caste-census process in their state. “The caste census demand is not today’s. The British had thought that a caste census should be done in 1931. The rights of the Constitution can be given to different castes and communities only when their count is known. I appreciate and congratulate Bihar Chief Minister for this,” said the SP chief.
Meanwhile, the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) said both of its former allies SP and BJP were not interested in a caste census as they fear that the findings may affect their OBC vote banks. “Hence, the BJP is presently avoiding the caste census and the SP did not order the census when its government was in power,” said SBSP principal general secretary Arvind Rajbhar.
Apart from the share in population, the census would reveal the economic strength and representation of castes in government jobs and the politics of each caste, said the SBSP leader. “That will expose that the SP’s vote bank of Yadavs and the BJP’s vote bank of Kurmis, Patels, Mauryas, and Jats have become financially powerful and their representation in government jobs and politics has increased. Based on that data, the government will have to frame policies to uplift the remaining Most Backward Castes (MBCs) and Dalits. This situation will only create differences between MBCs and other OBCs and also the ruling party can lose the support of its vote bank.”
