BJP-RSS hopeful of census windfall

NEW DELHI: Keeping an eye on the upcoming Assembly elections in five poll-bound states, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is anxiously looking forward to caste census report, which is likely to be announced soon.

Politics has so far influenced every decision taken by the government on caste census. It was in the run-up to the Bihar Assembly elections, way back in 2010, that the Congress-led UPA government commissioned the caste census in the first place.

Now, ahead of Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, scheduled for early next year, the Bjp-led government at the Centre looks all set to revive the vote-bank politics, albeit based on the report. On Thursday evening, party president Amit Shah met the Rashtiya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) top brass to discuss the issue in Bhopal.

Sangh leaders Bhaiyyaji Joshi and Krishna Gopal were present in the meeting. An expert committee led by Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya has been set up by the government to classify and categorise the caste names mentioned in the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC). The expert group will be serviced by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment.

The Cabinet had announced its decision to set up the panel in July last year.

The panel has a vital role in categorising the 4.6 million castes, sub-castes and surnames thrown up by the first caste census held in independent India through 2010-11. However, sources indicated that the RSS was not on the same page with the government’s proposal. At a meeting of the Sangh Parivar last month, members from its different affiliates expressed their views in some detail on the caste question. Strong opinions were made against counting the Other Backward Classes (OBCS), in addition to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.

The Sangh feels that castebased-census would divide Hindu society into “backward castes” and “forward castes” which will put them one against the other and that would not be in the larger interest of the country.

The OBC leaders are also expecting the census to peg the population at a much higher level than the 27 per cent quota in jobs and education sector that the backward classes are entitled to. Once the results come in, political parties targeting OBC votes are expected to agitate for a higher quota.

Moreover, national sample survey reports in the past have estimated OBC population to be in the 38-42 per cent range. But putting a number to each caste is not going to be easy.

The expert group has to carry out the mammoth task of matching each of the 4.6 million entries with the correct caste, an exercise that could take years.