Bari and Manthan: Caste count and next census

Center’s decision to include caste calculation In the next National census The ruling BJP marks a sharp departure for the ruling BJP from its previous position. Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted the Congress election manifesto in 2024 Promise a caste census as a reflection of his ‘urban Naxal’ thinking. During the general election last year, BJP leaders asked people to re -prepare the Constitution for a large -scale Lok Sabha majority. This promise of a constitutional overhaul was seen as a danger to destroy caste reservation by OBCs and Dalit groups, and partially explains why the BJP fell less than the electoral majority. In 2015, RSS chief call for debate on caste-based reservation He led failures for the BJP in the Bihar assembly elections. Maharashtra And Haryana Assembly Elections Jeet in 2024 suggested that the BJP’s resistance to caste-based politics continued to maintain electoral humility. However, as it is revealed, the BJP was probably uncertain about its electoral ground and feared an undercrest in favor of caste census that it could no longer ignore politically, especially in Bihar that would vote at the end of this year.

This is now a race to claim credit. The BJP and the opposition have accused each other of reducing social justice. National structures, including BJP, Congress and Left, have historically taken a unclear, if not hostile, look at caste claims. Subaltern parties gathering OBC and Dalit groups in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar displaced all national parties in these states in the 1990s. The BJP responded to the OBC by turning more inclusive, which has ended in its constant electoral dominance since 2014. Under Rahul Gandhi, the Congress started spying on caste justice in a remarkable turn in the history of the party. Apart from a caste census, Mr. Gandhi now wants to remove 50% sealing in reservation and expand reservation in private educational institutions. However, there is no evidence yet that the Congress will have an election benefit from new stirring or it is clear that the BJP is worried. Counting of castes and communities highlighted social forces in colonial India, which continues to date, and a broad caste count, the first since 1931, is ready to unmocate and remake many political and social realities since 1931. The census of a caste will not be the result of reservation according to population data automatically, which is unpleasant; As Article 16 (4) of the Constitution makes it clear, a special provision for reservation in favor of any backward class can be made only when such a community is represented inadequately in public services. A caste census should not be allowed to ossuf to social divisions, but is only used for better targeted benefits of positive action.