BJP’s self-contradictory stance on Caste Census revealed

On one hand, the BJP is opposing the caste-based enumeration exercise while on the other, it is pushing a Backward Classes agenda in poll-bound States.

Hyderabad: The contradictory views of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership on the issue of Caste Census has exposed its anti-Backward Class ideology. There is a glaring dichotomy in the words and deeds of the BJP on the issue. On one hand, the BJP is opposing the caste-based enumeration exercise while on the other, it is pushing a Backward Classes agenda in poll-bound States.

The BJP, known for its upper-caste-dominated Hindutva politics, has long opposed caste enumeration and its stance remained unchanged despite growing demands from various States and marginalized communities for a caste-centric census. The party even highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s OBC status in past campaigns to undermine regional parties and unite non-Muslim demographics under the Hindutva fold.

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Now, when Opposition parties and caste-based organisations are demanding a Caste Census, the party has started speaking in conflicting voices on the issue. While Modi has consistently been refusing to include ‘caste-wise count’ in the national census and is accusing the opposition, especially the Congress, of playing with feelings of the poor and dividing people in the name of caste, his deputy and close aide union Home Minister Amit Shah is claiming that the BJP was never opposed to the idea of caste census but it does not do “politics of votes” on the issue.

“We are a national political party and we don’t do politics of votes on this issue. We will take an appropriate decision after consulting everyone and tell (you) about it. But contesting polls on its basis is not correct,” Amit Shah told the press at the launch of the BJP manifesto for the Chhattisgarh elections in Raipur on Friday.

Interestingly, in order to garner the support of BCs, Amit Shah recently during a public meeting in Suryapet announced that his party would make a BC leader the Chief Minister in the event of his party coming to power in Telangana. In fact, the BJP is organising a ‘BC Garjana’ meeting to be addressed by Modi on Tuesday in the city, to create confidence among the BC community that the party was committed to their welfare. The Prime Minister is likely to announce the name of the BC Chief Minister candidate during the meeting.

The BJP’s parent body Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) in 2010 clearly said nationality should be the basis of National Census and not caste. In fact, the RSS suggested to the Centre that to fix some criteria for giving reservation to OBC communities and that it should not be done in a hurry.

According to reports, even Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said during a reply in the State assembly that his government had no plans to conduct a Caste Census in the State.

The Centre has also filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court opposing the Bihar caste survey stating that no other body under the Constitution or otherwise is entitled to conduct exercise of either census or any action akin to Census.

In response to the Maharashtra government’s petition in Supreme Court for sharing of Census data of OBCs collected by the Centre in 2011-13, the Centre said the exclusion of any caste other than Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe from the purview of Census is a conscious policy decision taken by the central government.