Rahul backs caste-based all-India census: Take clock back to 1990, Rajiv said "only quota" can't help
New Delhi
Between 1990 and circa 2023, we have lived through 33 years. But has the clock of the handcome back to haunt Indian polity yet again with the hydra-headed caste monster?
Will cow belt states burn again? Is the country ready for another or many more Rajiv Goswamis?
Rajiv Goswami (12 June 1971 – 24 Feb. 2004) was an activist and a former commerce student at the Deshbandhu College, Delhi University. He shot into prominence when he attempted self-immolation on September 19, 1990 to protest against the then PM V. P. Singh's implementation of the Mandal Commission report.
Circa 2023, Congress and Rahul Gandhi demand caste-based national census.
"The greater the population, the greater the rights -- this is our pledge," Rahul Gandhi tweeted on X.
The Congress party thinks it has 'discovered' a gold mine to corner BJP and Modi. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said the caste census of Bihar has proved that 84 per cent of people in the state are OBCs, SCs and STs and their share should be according to their population.
"Out of 90 secretaries of the central government, only 3 are OBC, who handle only 5 per cent of India's budget. Therefore, it is important to know the caste statistics of India...," Rahul tweeted in Hindi on X.
He had said so in Lok Sabha as well.
Now, take the clock back, Sept 6th, 1990, Lok Sabha proceedings
and this is what Leader of the Opposition, Rajiv Gandhi had said,
"The problems of backwardness are very real and they cannot be handled just by looking at any one aspect.....you cannot say that we will give financial assistance and backwardness will go. It will help, but you cannot say only reservations will do".
Late Rajiv Gandhi also had said - "Today we need to harness all the energies of the nation to develop so fast as to compete with other countries.
That can only be done if we harness all the resources of our people. That includes the weakest, the most backward, the poorest. They cannot be left out. I don’t think anybody in this House will say that when a child is born, there is a substantial difference in merit between one child and another child. They are all the same."
True, caste is a social menace of the Hindu society and the good/bad old caste game is brought back into the national political paradigm.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party, BJP, might be slightly worried today. The general queryis Can caste-census and quota demands counter Hindutva of Modi?
For his part, PM Modi says -- "Even then (past) they used to play with the feelings of the poor and they are doing it even now. Even then, they used to divide the country on the basis of caste and even now they are doing the same".
But the BJP in Bihar is trying to sing a different song.
Former Bihar CM and BJP MP, Sushilkumar Modi is trying to be correct politically. He says RJD chiefLalu Prasad Yadav should not take credit for Bihar's caste survey as it was Nitish Kumar-led government along with BJP support when resolution was passed for such a survey.
Lalu Prasad ruled Bihar for 15 years but never carried out any such survey, he says.
"The figures that have been revealed for Bihar are on expected lines...BJP will formulate necessary policies based on the new statistics," Sushil Modi asserted.
As of now, JD-U leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is the newsmaker of the week if not the month ofOctober.
Nitish is also a prime ambitious player for the PM post for 2024 polls. So he has played up the caste game disclosing the 'caste census' figures. Congress leaders do not want to be left behind and hence Rahul Gandhi himself gave a clarion call for caste censusat the national level.
According to the data, Hindus comprise 81.99 per cent of the population, Muslims 17.7 per cent, Christians 0.05 per cent, Sikhs 0.01 etc etc. In Bihar, perhaps these do not matter much.
What matters is that the survey report revealed that 63 per cent of Other Backward Castes (OBCs) constituted the state's total population of 13 crore. In the Supreme Court, the Bihar government had claimed it was not a 'census' but collection datas on socio-economic yardsticks.
Officially called the Bihar Jaati Adharit Ganana, it was initiated by the Nitish Kumar-led government in January this year and the move was opposed both in the Patna High Court and the Supreme Court.
While the Patna High Court gave its nod, the Supreme Court had said, “Unless you (petitioners) are able to make out a prima facie case, we are not going to stay anything”.
The detailed breakdown revealed that the backward class constituted 27 per cent of the population, while the extremely backward class (EBC) made up 36 per cent.
Scheduled Castes (SCs) accounted for slightly more than 19 per cent and Scheduled Tribes (STs) 1.68 per cent. The general category formed 15.52 per cent of Bihar's population.
Now see what happens and what could trigger a further debate
Ashwani Kumar of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) suggests that the OBC and the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) constituted 63% of the State’s population.
And of this, the EBCs constituted 36% while the OBCs stood at 27.13%-- the figures may open the door for challenging the ceiling of 50% reservations currently in place.
The 50% ceiling on reservations in jobs and educational institutions was accepted by the Supreme Court in the Indira Sawhney Vs Union of India case in 1992, a few years after the VP Singh Government announced the implementation of the Mandal Commission report which recommended reservations for OBCs.
Mr Modi slammed the opposition parties for their "anti-development" politics and said they have no vision or road map and hate to see the country's progress.
“When the entire world is praising the country and sees their future in India, there are those who indulge in politics and are unable to see anything except their chair...they do not like India being praised the world over. These anti-development people are trying to prove that nothing has happened in the nation and they have pain in their stomach (over India's praise)," he said.
One BJP leader says the so-called caste census and even reservation would not make much difference as India has moved on. PM Modi himself is an OBC poster boy and his vision of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas is a revolutionaryand inclusive appeal.
Even a poor OBC caste who will vote in 2023 and 2024 and also beyond will first analyse what is his realneed - education, health and good roads. Reservation may not be a panacea to him, says the BJP leader.
"What is important to note is that the definition of caste justice for Lalu Prasad starts with family and ends with family. Who will be RJD's Deputy CM it is his son Tejashwi Yadav, Health minister will be another sonand his daughter Misa Bharti will go to Rajya Sabha," says BJP leader Guru Prakash Paswan.
But the BJP and the Modi government have ensured the election of a tribal and a woman from a backward regionof Odisha as the President of India.
"The new Bharat will embrace that and not the caste politics of the 1990s," he says, "for social justice, youneed commitment from inside".
Well, it may be too early. But the BJP has the Rohini Commission report up in its sleeves. The report was submitted to the President not long ago.
There are over 2600 subcastes in the Central List of OBCs, and a perception has been built that only a handful of dominant caste groups such as Yadavs are reaping the benefit of reservation quotas.
The primary objective of the commission was to formulate the method, basis, and criteria for a fair distribution of benefits among the OBCs. Other Backward Classes, which account for 41 per cent (National Sample Survey Office) to 52 per cent (Mandal Commission) of the population, get 27 per cent reservation in central government jobs and admission to educational institutions.
The Rohini panel report can possibly break the Opposition’s narrative of “Jiski jitni sankhya bhaari, uski utni hissedaari” --- a point Rahul Gandhi emphasised.The answer to many of these questions lie 'well guarded' in the womb of time.
ends
Significantly, the results of the caste-based survey in Bihar come months before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls will be held. The survey's results could potentially reshape the political landscape in Bihar, a state dominated by political parties such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janata Dal (United) (JDU) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The votes of the OBCs are crucial for these parties in a state that sends 40 MPs to Parliament.
(Nirendra Dev is a New Delhi-based journalist. He is also author of the books ‘The Talking Guns: North East India’, and ‘Modi to Moditva: An Uncensored Truth’. Views expressed are personal)
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--Nirendra DevNew Delhi
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