An Opposition clamour is growing over the demand from the Centre to conduct a caste-based census. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for next year, the Congress, Janata Dal (United), Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal are projecting a united front demanding the Centre for a nationwide caste-based census.
With Bihar already finalising its caste-based census started in January this year, the issue has gained momentum across other states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar rolled out its much-hyped caste-based census programme in the state, projected at a cost of Rs 500 crore. The deadline to complete the census is May 2023 and the JD(U) government said it will use the data to formulate welfare policies. Kumar has said that without the data, it has been difficult to estimate the population of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) correctly.
The Congress, too, has a similar ask but for the entire nation and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been reluctant.
In April, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge shot a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding an up-to-date caste census without which the database “for social justice and empowerment programmes, particularly for OBCs, are incomplete”.
Backing Congress's demand, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar called for a national caste census, saying it would be beneficial for all sections of society. The BJP unit in Bihar had also supported a resolution by the government but the central leadership is yet to respond.
Mandal vs Kamandal
The 'Mandal versus Kamandal' politics has been predicted to play out in a big way across states ahead of the crucial 2024 general elections. With the BJP blowing its trumpet about a united Hindu Rashtra, the opposition parties have seen it as an opportune moment to polarise from the group that section which has been at the brunt of caste prejudice.
'Mandal', a term often referred to politics of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Scheduled Castes, has its origin in the Mandal Commission which was established in 1979 by the Janata Party government to "identify the socially or educationally backward classes" of India. 'Kamandal’, literally translating to a water pot often used by spiritual leaders, has over the years become a metaphor for Hindutva politics.
The term gained centrality in the mid-90s in the complex political landscape of two Hindi heartlands – Uttar Pradesh and Bihar – and has been used by regional parties, which mainly stuck to caste-based politics, and the BJP, which strongly followed the Hindutva ideology.
The Karnataka Caste Battle
With the assembly elections for Karnataka just around the corner, a common element echoed in the manifestos of opposition political parties and speeches of leaders who have been campaigning around the state in the last few weeks, and that has been the attempt to reinvent the ‘Mandal’ to counter the BJP’s ‘Kamandal’ or Hindutva plank.
Attending to thousands of his supporters in Kolar, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the Narendra Modi-led government of “hiding” the 2011 Socio Economic and Caste Census data, which was not released by the Congress government itself when they were in power.
The Congress leader further demanded that quota for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes be “proportionate to their population”. “Jitni abaadi, utna haq”, he said. He also sought the removal of the 50 per cent cap on reservation.
The debate has resurfaced at a time when the Karnataka government decided to increase quotas for Vokkaligas and Lingayats, two numerically dominant and politically influential communities in the state, in government jobs and educational institutions by two per cent each, while scrapping the four per cent reservation for OBC Muslims just ahead of the polls, which was seen largely as an election gimmick by people from the community.
The government announced internal reservation in the 17 per cent SC quota. The SC Left category got 6 per cent of the quota while the SC Right category got 5.5 per cent. The touchable communities such as Banjaras and Bhovis got 4.5 per cent and the other SC communities got the remaining 1 per cent.
This too has caused consternation among SC (Left) and SC (Right) communities. However, the Supreme Court said the decision prima facie appeared to be on "highly shaky ground" and "flawed", in response to a petition challenging the government’s decision and ordered a stay on any appointments based on this reservation until May 9.
Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities
The influence of Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities has dominated the politics in the state until the 1970s. The years that followed saw pulls and pushes across different caste groups with the involvement of minority communities as well. “With the advent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the caste game became even more complex, with caste leaders joining hands irrespective of their party affiliation,” as per writings of T.V. in 2005.
The Lingayats constituting 17 per cent of Karnataka’s population, have been a vote bank for the ruling BJP. This is followed by Vokkaligas at 15 per cent, Muslims at 12.92 per cent and Brahmins at three per cent. The OBCs are believed to form 35 per cent of the state’s population while the SCs and STs account for about 18 per cent. However, the official numbers can only be determined when the findings from the socio-economic and education survey are released.
Internal rifts within the Lingayat community meant that the support for BJP has not always been unified. The community which is further divided into multiple sects and sub-sects, have their own caste affiliations and demands. One such demand that presses for the recognition of Lingayatism as a separate religion, did not sit well with the Sangh Parivar that seeks to preserve a unified ‘Hindu’ identity. Additionally, the exit of prominent Lingayat leaders from BJP’s fold recently has furthered this discontentment.
Meanwhile, BJP has done well in the Vokkaliga belt – comprising Mysuru, Hassan, Mandya, Ramnagara and Bengaluru rural districts – as in the rest of the state in the general elections. However, in the Assembly election, it has not made much headway. While it tried to appease the community by erecting statues and launching developmental projects, the Vokkaligas – mainly a farmer community – believe the BJP works against the larger interest of the agrarian community.
This year, while the BJP did away with the quota for Muslims with an argument that they “never believed in religion-based reservation”, the Congress stated it would increase quotas to 75 per cent to accommodate the interests of SC, ST, OBC and minorities in its manifesto and restore the Muslim quota. The Congress has also promised to accommodate a caste-based census if it is voted to power.
The BJP is inching towards a dream third term and its ideological parent – the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) – is closing in on its centenary year in 2025. With two nearly full terms in review, criticism is growing against the saffron party, which has managed to gulp a majority of the Hindu voter base, from those often of the same religion, who have been at the receiving end of the injustices of the caste system.
The caste census is also expected to help members of the lowest of lower castes benefit from reservations, be it in education or government jobs. The Opposition, on the other hand, has its own agenda for demanding a caste-based census.
Opposition parties in India are in the face of an existential crisis – if not now, will they ever be able to revive themselves at a national level? If not now, will there ever be a contender for the ruling BJP?
