New Delhi: Though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is yet to give out a coherent position after the Bihar government released the data of its caste survey, the party’s allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are singing a different tune.
Several NDA allies that are single-caste parties, largely led by one or other non-dominant OBC groups which have advocated greater political power for their communities, have now reiterated their demand for such a count on the national level. This includes the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, NISHAD party, Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular.
This comes amid a clamour for the caste census that has only been growing in recent months, with members of the opposition INDIA alliance raising its pitch and attempting to build a consensus around it.
Om Prakash Rajbhar
Om Prakash Rajbhar, founder and president of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, which returned to the NDA fold in June after four years, said that a caste survey is essential to know about the development of each community.
“The constitutional arrangement given by Ambedkar says that a census should be conducted every 10 years to bring development to those who have been left behind and those who have come up should be removed. As things stand today, we see that whether it is MPs, MLAs or judges-they are all from the same community. And the poor and deprived communities have not come up. The survey needs to be done as only a caste survey can reveal how development has taken place in the last 75 years and how different communities have fared in jobs, business, education, bureaucracy etc. We cannot talk in the air,” he said to The Wire.
When asked about how the BJP is yet to take a clear stand on the caste census, Rajbhar said that it is the saffron party’s own matter.
“That is their own matter, we can only talk about us. Whenever we go to meetings we say that a caste survey should be done as this is what our party believes in. Whether to take it up or not is up to them,” he said.
Also read: How BJP’s Own Fragmenting of Social Justice Politics Led to the Bihar Caste Census
NISHAD party
Sanjay Nishad, NISHAD party chief who is also a cabinet minister in the Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, also reiterated the demand for a caste census and said that failure to do so could have implications for the BJP.
“The BJP always stands with the truth. It stood with the women who voted for them and gave them reservation, it stood with the upper castes and gave them the Economically Weaker Section reservation. We are sure that the BJP will also realise that if they don’t give us caste census we will make them lose next time,” he said to The Wire.
He added that a caste census is essential to understand where each caste stands numerically.
“If they don’t provide constitutional protection and justice then people will teach them a lesson. We just want to make the BJP realise this. As the women made the BJP realise that they are with them by giving them votes and then the women’s reservation bill was brought. Similarly we also want the BJP to understand that we are with you and not with the SP, BSP or Congress. We want SC reservation. BJP will not tolerate this loss and they will give us this reservation, like they delivered on their promise to scrap Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.”
Apna Dal (S)
Another NDA partner in the state, union minister of state for commerce and industry, Anupriya Patel’s Apna Dal (Sonelal) has also voiced its support for a caste census.
At an event in Rae Bareli on October 2, Patel said that the party has always been in favour of a caste census in the country.
“There is a huge population of backward castes in India. And that is why a caste based census is essential so that we know the numbers and the exact population of the backward castes in India in order to understand their problems and to solve them,” she said.
Also read: Adityanath’s OBC Sub-Quota Game Remains in Cold Storage in UP Amid Changing Caste Equations
Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular)
In Bihar, former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular (HAM-S) which also returned to the NDA fold in June, while criticising the manner in which the Nitish Kumar government conducted the caste survey in the state, said that a count should be done but in a proper manner.
“There should be a caste survey. But it should be done in the correct way,” said Santosh Kumar Suman, Manjhi’s son who exited the Nitish Kumar cabinet in June to The Wire.
Suman said that there were loopholes in the present survey, questionnaires had not been sent to all households and many people had said that their communities were much more in number than what the survey has shown.
The Bihar government’s data revealed that the population of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and that of Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) is 63% of the state population and that OBCs, EBCs, SCs, and STs account for 84% of the state population, and upper caste groups account for 15.52%.
“We had said that the survey should be a socio economic development survey so that we can see the indicators of employment, illiteracy, among others,” said Suman.
Just hours after the Bihar caste survey results were released, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared his opposition to the demand for a caste census at a rally in Gwalior on Monday.
Modi accused the opposition, without naming them, of trying to divide the country on caste lines.
“They played with the emotions of the poor and divided society on caste lines. They are committing this sin even now,” he was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.
Referring to Modi’s statement, Suman said that the prime minister was right that the survey has divided the country.
“The PM said the same thing that the caste survey has divided the country so yes it has happened-some people are saying their numbers are more than what has been shown in the survey.
“Yes we agree that there are many castes that have been left behind in the development process. There are many castes that are underdeveloped and the developed castes population has increased. Yes there are problems so the government should do it (caste survey) properly.”
Suman said that these issues will be raised in subsequent meetings with the NDA.
“We will place this issue in meeting with the NDA that representation should be done properly. We want the survey and we are hopeful that everyone gets representation and development takes place on the basis of that,” he said.
Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK)
BJP ally in Tamil Nadu Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder S. Ramadoss in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on October 3 said that with its caste survey, Bihar had lit the lamp of social justice that will soon illuminate the whole country.
He urged both the Tamil Nadu government and the BJP-led Union government to conduct a caste census at the earliest.
“I urge all the states interested in providing social justice light, especially the Tamil Nadu government to take up the task of conducting caste wise census immediately.
As the 2021 census is yet to be conducted, I also request that the Central government also take steps to conduct it as a caste-wise census.”
சமூகநீதியை நிலைநாட்ட அடித்தளம் அமைத்த பிகார் முதலமைச்சர் நிதிஷ்குமாருக்கு பாராட்டுகள்: சாதிவாரி கணக்கெடுப்பு இந்தியாவுக்கு வழிகாட்டும்!
சாத்தியமே இல்லாதது என்பது போன்ற மாயை ஏற்படுத்தப்பட்டு வந்த சாதிவாரி மக்கள்தொகை கணக்கெடுப்பை வெற்றிகரமாக நடத்தி அதன் முடிவுகளை…
— Dr S RAMADOSS (@drramadoss) October 3, 2023
AJSU-P
Last month, the BJP’s ally in Jharkhand, the All Jharkhand Students’ Union party (AJSU-P), also reiterated its support to the Kurmis’ demand to be granted Scheduled Caste status and also demanded a caste census. In 2021, the party had urged the Modi government to conduct a caste-based census.