Opinion: Caste census is a weapon of Congress to break Hindu unity! Understand how

Chetan Bhagat: BJP’s biggest political achievement has been to consolidate the ‘Hindu vote’. This brought a large number of votes to the BJP. Congress made several attempts to bring the vote back, but nothing worked. The point was that if most of the Hindu votes remain consolidated with the BJP, the Congress and its allies can never hope to return to power. So, after some correction for the 2024 elections, the Congress and its allies are focusing on what is essential for their success – creating cracks in the ‘Hindu vote’. The caste census is a weapon of the opposition to break the Hindu unity. The Dalit and Muslim support base used to work for the Congress. Muslims voted for the Congress in a big way in the April-May elections. However, their Dalit support base had weakened after BJP’s attempt to consolidate the ‘Hindu vote’.

Who are you fooling on caste census?

Now a somewhat reinvigorated Congress and a new Rahul Gandhi are set to break this BJP bloc using the caste census. There are arguments for and against the caste census. But whom are we fooling? Apart from its value, the issue is fundamentally political – a clever strategy by the Congress. But whether it will succeed or not depends largely on how the BJP handles the issue. The main benefit of the caste census is to better understand the caste picture across the country. This involves not only generating numbers but also tallying their socio-economic status.

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For example, in any caste, how many people belonging to that caste own a car? How many own a two-wheeler? What is their level of education? Where do they live, what is the average age? The answers will help sharpen welfare measures, including reservations. India is a low-income country with limited resources and opportunities. Out of this, resources have to be redistributed among the less privileged and historical wrongs have to be corrected.

Advantages and disadvantages of caste census

However, if existing measures are based on outdated estimates and inaccurate data, chances are that it is a waste of resources as welfare policy may end up focusing on those for whom such measures are not meant. We are living in a time where data aggregation is used to improve everything. Apps provide us with traffic data on every road to help us plan our trips better. Advertisers use social media usage data to better target ads. Similarly, having accurate data to implement welfare and reservation schemes seems to be an easy task. As they say, what is measured is managed.

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There are disadvantages of caste census too. The biggest one is that all this work ultimately keeps the caste system alive. Even SC reservation, a caste welfare measure for the most marginalised, keeps caste alive. What is our ultimate goal as a society? To have maximum reservation? Or will there come a day when we will have a society where caste does not exist. Again, there are no easy answers. But one thing is clear. As long as caste exists, and caste-based reservations exist, it is extremely important to have good caste-based macro socio-economic data.

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Who has a problem with caste census?

But, it is as much about politics as it is about looking out for the marginalised. There were arguments for and against the Ram Mandir and Article 370. But ultimately, both these issues were also about politics. Both these issues helped the BJP consolidate the Hindu vote. The caste census will show the differences within communities and between individuals of any caste. Some will be doing better than expected, which should happen especially if reservations have worked. The data will demand a change in policy. But more reservations will cause trouble among the upper castes. If everything goes according to plan, it will serve its political intent – ​​to explode and scatter the Hindu vote. It is no wonder that the BJP is slow on this. And yet, we have to have a caste census at some point. Not doing so may not go down well with the non-upper caste, which in itself is a risk for the BJ. The Congress is trying to trap the BJP in a chakravyuh. In such a situation, the BJP will get trapped if it does and is bound to get trapped if it doesn’t.

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Karnataka results out

The BJR must communicate that as a ‘Hindu’ party, it is they who will pay attention to the caste census in some form or the other. The last thing the BJP needs is for the lower castes to believe that the party does not care about them. The BJP will have to navigate carefully, to ensure that it takes the good from the caste census and at the same time does not fall into the trap of the Congress. The Congress also does not want to be seen as a political opportunist who alienates upper caste voters even before the caste census begins. It also needs to reveal the results of the caste survey it has already conducted in Karnataka and announce what action it will take based on the Karnataka data. Essentially, it needs to walk the talk.