BJP to focus on schemes, OBC outreach
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is making a concerted effort to ensure that awareness about the Union government’s welfare schemes and outreach among other backward classes (OBC) drowns out a growing chorus -- from the Opposition, allies and even within the party fold -- for a caste census.
People aware of developments said the party is not only concerned about the demand snowballing into an election issue ahead of crucial state polls but also its impact on ties with allies, especially the Janata Dal-united with which it runs a coalition government in Bihar.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has led the charge for a caste census and all parties other than the BJP have come together to push for caste-based enumeration. BJP allies such as the JD-U, Apna Dal and Republican Party of India - Athawale have joined opposition parties such as the Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party in demanding caste census.
The Biju Janata Dal has a;sp asked for a caste census, as have some BJP leaders, including
Badaun MP Sanghamitra Maurya and party secretary Pankaja Munde.
OBCS form an influential voting bloc in several states and were instrumental to the rise of the BJP in recent years. They are electorally important in the heartland states, especially in Uttar Pradesh. Hence, to pre-empt any adverse impact of the caste census demand, the party has begun outreach to elucidate how its central schemes and interventions at the state level helped marginalised sections, said people aware of developments.
Party cadre have been instructed to list the benefits that socially and educationally marginalised sections have accrued over the past seven years.
BJP spokesperson and former MP, Bizay Sonkar Shastri, downplayed the demand as “a political ploy” by the Opposition. He said the BJP did not believe in “castebased politics”. A second BJP leader declined to comment on the demand from allies, but said, “For decades, regional parties that promised social justice and ensuring equity and equality failed to do so. They spoke of social inclusion but ended up promoting just one or two castes.” He said schemes such as the Ujjwala Yojana, Har Ghar Jal, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana benefited people across castes.
“These schemes have benefited people on the margins whether they come from SC, ST or OBC categories. These schemes are an indicator of how the Modi government has walked the talk on social inclusion and parity for all even in the absence of caste-based census,” said the leader quoted above.
The demand for a caste census is an old and sensitive one. Castes begun to be officially enumerated in the British era and the last caste census was conducted in 1931. Independent India limited the practice to only counting scheduled castes and tribes -- for extending reservation.
The Centre conducted a separate Socio-economic Caste Census in 2011 but its caste data was never made public.
Opposition parties say the BJP does not want clarity about caste numbers as it could hamper its social engineering. Javed Ali Khan, a former MP of the Samajwadi Party, said, “Our party has been asking for caste-based census so that we know the exact percentage of OBCS and SCS and the reservation policy can become more transparent.”
Given the sensitivity of the issue, the BJP has chosen not to explicitly state its stance. “The state governments of Maharashtra and Odisha have requested to collect caste details in the forthcoming census. The government of India has decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste wise populations other than SC and ST in the census,” minister of state for home Nityanand Rai told Lok Sabha in July.
However, in an interview this week to HT, Union labour minister Bhupender Yadav, who is also an OBC leader, said the matter was still under consideration and the ministry incharge of carrying out the census exercise will take a call based on feedback from experts. Party leaders at the Centre also indicated that states were free to carry out census on the basis of caste.