By Saiyed Moziz Imam Zaidi
New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS) The caste census has come as a weapon to counter the Hindutva politics. It will be mandal vs kamandal politics which has been at the forefront after former Prime Minister late VP Singh implemented the Mandal commission report and the BJP went ahead with its Mandir politics. BJP leader LK Advani took out a chariot march to Ayodhya from Somnath but was arrested in Bihar and the BJP pulled down the government. The following decade was the mandal era and OBC leaders became the local satraps.
Of the three Congress Chief Ministers in the country, two are from the OBC community, pointed out a Congress leader. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh belong to the OBC community but the party is unable to use them politically fearing the loss of upper caste votes.
Congress leader and then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao was instrumental in implementation of the Mandal report but the Congress could not take a stand politically and lost the OBC vote which gradually shifted to regional parties and later to the BJP.
The Congress at its Udaipur session adopted a resolution to make public the caste census data of 2011.
The Congress resolution also mentioned about the fight for all sections of the society and particularly about the caste census, which is a big OBC push. Congress leaders point out that it may affect the BJP’s social engineering in many states, especially in the election-going states.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had also said that he will implement the Udaipur Declaration — the party had adopted it during its Chintan Shivir in May last year.
In the political resolution, the party had said that it will incorporate all sections of the society in the party and will fight over the attack on the core values of the Constitution.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh had said that the Congress is in favour of caste census and it is necessary to get it done.
To counter the BJP the regional parties have started to demand a caste census. The BJP has planned to make the Ram temple its main poll plank in the 2024 elections. The party is strong in Uttar Pradesh with 67 Lok Sabha members and in Bihar too it has a sizeable number of MPs. However, the Samajwadi Party has pushed forward Swami Prasad Maurya to connect with the Backwards and Dalits by raising the issue of the alleged insult to them in the Hindu epic ‘Ramcharitmanas’ and is simultaneously flagging the demand for a caste census.
The demand for a caste census — or scientific count of castes last undertaken in 1931 (a caste count was also done in 2011 but its data was not shared) — is based on the premise that it would help the government rework its social justice rollout.
The move by Bihar’s OBC parties — Janata Dal(U) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal – to go for caste census, has rattled the BJP and it doesn’t want to be seen as opposing it. The Congress will now have to promote its OBC leaders to snatch away a big chunk of votes ahead of the general elections.
–IANS
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