Emand for caste-based ensus grows ahead of P assembly election
Castes belonging to Other Backward ses and Scheduled es together account nearly 60-70% of the ulation in UP
Ahead of assembly ions in around half-a- dozen s, including Uttar Pradesh, next year, several political ies have joined hands to and a caste-based census sub-categorisation of castes e country, putting the ruling atiya Janata Party (BJP) in pparent dilemma. tar Pradesh, the politically crucial state, is home to as y as 79 castes belonging to Other Backward Classes s) and 66 scheduled castes ) and sub-castes. However, a handful of them like vs, Kurmis, Lodhs, Rajs, Maurya and Kushwahas ng the OBCS and Jatavs, , Valmikis and Koris among SCS have been able to get ical visibility with a lion’s e in political power, ecoic resources and governt jobs. he OBCS and the SCS ther account for around 0% of UP’S population. The lation of the SC-ST populais done every 10 years when ensus is held in the country he last caste-wise enumerawas carried out in 1931 and same data is taken into unt for various purposes today. Around 40-50% of population is estimated to BC while the SC population counted at 20.7% in the 2011 us. And in the case of SCS STS, too, sub-categorisation stes is not done. n August 23, an 11-member gation led by Bihar chief ister Nitish Kumar met e Minister Narendra Moodi ress the long-pending and for counting the OBCS e census scheduled to be shortly. e old demand was revived ly this year after the Centre med the Lok Sabha that it d not enumerate caste-wise lation, except those for the nd STS.
tical parties’ stand
the 2022 assembly election.
“A caste-wise tabulation of the census is necessary to achieve the objective of social justice because without knowing the numerical strength of various castes it is not possible for governments to plan and execute welfare policies for them in the right way,” SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary argued.
“It is in this context that our leader Akhilesh Yadav has often insisted on the “jiski jitni sankhya bhari, uski utni hissedari” (the more numerically dominant a caste is, the more share it should have in the country’s resources) formula of social justice,” he added.
Other small regional outfits, including Anupriya Patel’s Apna Dal (Sonelal), Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), Sanjay Nishad’s Nishad Party, Keshav Dev Maurya’s Mahan Dal and Babu Singh Kushwaha’s Jan Adhikar Party that are led by OBC leaders all vocally support the demand for the caste-based census.
Apparently, aware of the importance of caste politics in UP, the Congress, too, has backed the demand. It also claimed that it was during the last UPA government that the work of the socio- economic caste census was carried out.
“The UPA government got the caste-based census done in 2011 but the BJP that came to power in 2014 did not publish the caste data although the party demanded caste-based census when it was in Opposition,” UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar ‘Lallu’ said.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) are probably the only important political players that far. The RLD is the SP’S potential ally for the assembly polls 2022 but does not seem to be on the same page as far as the demand for caste-based census is concerned.
Culmination of social churning
The growing demand for the caste-based census by many political parties, according to political scientist Shashikant Pandey, is a step closer towards culmination of the social churning and the “second political upsurge” that began with the emergence of OBC leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav and Kalyan Singh in UP and Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar in Bihar.
“I see the social churning taking a concrete shape now with the regional parties rooted in castes being in a position to have their say in political affairs and dictating terms to national parties like the BJP and the Congress,” he said. Pandey is the head of the department of political science in the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow.
Caste tabulation, a double-edged sword
The caste enumeration, according to Pandey, may, however, turn to be a double-edged sword.
“The caste data that the castebased census can yield may help governments in planning and executing welfare schemes in a better way benefitting the most backward and deprived castes that have been marginalised till date,” he said.
“But it has a flip side too. And this lies in the fact that once the exact numbers of OBCS and SCS are known and made public folas per the numerical strength of castes and hence the marginalised may become even more marginalised,” Pandey added.
Such a situation, he cautioned, may also lead to caste conflict within the OBCS and SCS and could also further intensify the caste tension and animosity in the society in general.
“It will be very interesting to watch the after-effects of the caste-based census if it takes place,” he observed.
Getting 50% reservation cap removed real motive?
Observers say though many political parties are demanding the caste-based census in the name of social justice, their real motive, according to them, is to get the 50% cap on reservation removed or raised after the actual caste-wise data is available in the public domain.
“The next logical demand after the caste census is held will be for the enactment of a law to do away with the 50% cap ceiling put by the Supreme Court on reservation,” Pandey said.
Agreeing with him, social scientist Rajesh Mishra said, “Reservation for OBCS will have to be revised, sooner or later. The provision for 10% quota for the poor among the upper castes has opened the Pandora’s Box and allayed the legitimacy of the 50% limit.”
BJP’S dilemma
Although the Centre informed the Lok Sabha last month that it would not go for caste enumeration, both Pandey and Mishra agree that it may not be possible for the BJP government at the Centre to ignore any longer, the demand for the caste-based census considering the growing importance of OBC politics, particularly in UP.
“Notwithstanding political divisions among the OBC castes/ classes, no political party can afford their resentment on the issue, especially in the light of the upcoming assembly polls in UP,” Mishra said.
Avoiding a direct reply, UP BJP spokesman Sameer Singh said, “The Justice Rohini Commission is already working on the sub-categorisation of OBCS and once the commission presents its report, the Central government will take a call to further promote the interests of