The ‘Super Cabinet’ meeting was held on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which some top ministers of the Union Cabinet were present. People across the country were understanding that there could be a strike against Pakistan. But the government made a political strike on the opposition. Many important decisions were taken in the cabinet meeting, including caste census. The government has also decided to conduct caste census along with census. After the meeting, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav told in the press briefing that castes will also be counted in the upcoming census.
It is obvious that after this announcement of the government, there is a competition to take credit for caste census. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has also claimed the claim. Rahul Gandhi will also like to take credit for caste census from the Congress. After all, there will be no platform for the last about 5 years from where Rahul Gandhi has not demanded it. But the Mandalist parties who have been demanding the first of the caste census and the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has always supported this demand, is not going to reduce the claim for this. The BJP never opposed the caste census and now it seems to be at the forefront of taking credit by implementing it.
Caste census is an important issue of socio-economic policies, especially other backward classes (OBCs) and making welfare schemes effective in India. There has been no comprehensive caste census in India since 1931, and there is a competition to take credit between Congress, Divisional Parties (like Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal, and their ally), and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on this issue.
1-how much credit for Congress
The Congress-led UPA-2 government constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Pranab Mukherjee in 2010, resulting in a census in 2011. This was the first time an attempt was made to collect caste -based data after independence. Although it showed incredible number of 46 lakh castes, its data was never made public. The Congress claims that UPA-2 conducted caste census, but BJP did not release the data. While the BJP also says that till 2014, the Congress was the government, but the data of caste census was not deliberately released. But in 1951, the delay in stopping the caste census and implementing the recommendations of the Mandal Commission made the image of the Congress anti-OBC-Anti.
The Congress had promised to remove nationwide caste census and 50% reservation limit in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Rahul Gandhi called it social X-ray. In the Congress -ruled Telangana, in 2024, 42% OBC reservation was implemented on the basis of caste survey, which was a positive step of the Congress. But whether Rahul Gandhi or the Congress did not take any such step during its entire tenure in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In Karnataka and Himachal, no such step has been taken so far. The background of the states of the south has already been reservation. Therefore, the reservation given in Telangana is not able to create any atmosphere for the Congress.
Role of 2-Dalist parties
In 1979-1980, the Janata Party government has B.P. The second Backward Classes Commission was constituted under the chairmanship of Mandal, which recommended 27% OBC reservation in 1980. This was the foundation of the divisional parties like Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal, and RJD to empower backward politics. Which promoted the socio-political empowerment of OBC. But after the formation of the Congress government in 1980, its report could not be revealed.
In 1990 V.P. Singh’s Janata Dal government implemented the recommendations of the Mandal Commission. Which brought OBC into mainstream politics. The move gave Mandalist parties an opportunity to lead the OBC vote bank. The president of the Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav, that is why the Mandal Commission is the basis of the social revolution.
During the UPA government, Mandalwadi parties, such as SP, RJD, and JDU, continued to advocate caste census for a long time. In Bihar, Nitish Kumar (JDU) conducted a caste survey in 2022, in which 36% OBC and 27% EBC population was identified. The Nitish Kumar government also enacted a law to increase OBC reservation, but the Supreme Court rejected it.
3- BJP has emerged as the biggest player of backward politics
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which once called the party of Brahmins and Banis, has become the biggest player of OBC votes in today. By handing over the CM’s chair to backward verses like Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP infiltrated the BJP by handing over the chair of CM that the BJP started to end. But in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP was upset since the Samajwadi Party of the backward castes once again went behind the Samajwadi Party. However, when it comes to caste census, Keshav Prasad Maurya in UP to Devendra Fadnavis in Maharashtra always supported it. In Bihar too, BJP was involved in the all -party team seeking caste census. With this, when the matter was stuck in the Supreme Court, the central government also appeared with the Bihar government on the issue of caste census.
At the time of the implementation of the Mandal Commission in 1990, BJP also supported it, but took a cautious stance for fear of social stress. In 2014, BJP came to power under Narendra Modi’s leadership, and it adopted a strategy to strengthen the OBC vote bank. The Modi government took several steps for the OBC, such as giving constitutional status to the OBC commission (102nd amendment in 2018) and implementing 27% OBC reservation in NEET.
4- Bihar elections will decide who credit
The BJP has become at the forefront of backward politics by creating an OBC of the country. Now by announcing the caste census, the Modi government has made a political strike on the politics of opposition. It is obvious that all this has been done keeping in mind the Bihar assembly elections. In Bihar, castes have an important role in politics. It is also important that Bihar has the highest number of backward class politics in the country. Therefore, in the elections of Bihar, it will be decided that the general public wants to give credit for caste census to which party.