Opinion: Dividing Hindus on the basis of caste or minority votes… What does Rahul Gandhi want from caste census

How much reservation is the ultimate goal of caste census in the country? 80%? Since the population of upper castes is not more than 20%. How much will it promote Hindutva, which is its logical political counter? The path Rahul Gandhi is following will increase division. Its effect can be seen in BJP-ruled states.

Edited by Anil Kumar

• Rahul Gandhi is strongly advocating caste census across the country
• Many states have already violated the 49% limit of reservation
• Congress’s old electoral strategy is the reason behind caste census

4. Jagannathan: In the form of Rahul Gandhi, there is an opposition leader in Parliament who is filled with anger after the election results of June 4. This week he once again strongly advocated a nationwide caste census. To this, BJP, a major constituent of the ruling party NDA, reacted strongly. To this, Rahul Gandhi responded that he is ready to endure personal insults to achieve his larger goal. BJP’s Anurag Thakur gave a speech on how caste census is being advocated by people who do not know their own caste.

What is the ultimate goal of caste census?

However, a portion of Thakur’s statement was deleted from the parliamentary proceedings. PM Modi then tweeted it. Later, another BJP leader Sambit Patra strongly attacked Gandhi’s speech in a press conference. Rahul needs to ask himself and his fellow enthusiasts this important question: What is its (caste census’) ultimate goal? Is it aimed at further increasing caste-based reservations? Several states have already breached or are close to breaching the 49% cap set in the Indra Sawhney judgment. The judicial approval for the 10% quota for economically weaker sections, which was legislated in the final days of the first Modi government, anyway raises the current potential quota cap to 59%. While in Tamil Nadu the cap is anyway 69%. So, is the intention to take it to 75% after the caste census? Or even higher, since upper castes are not more than 20% of the population?

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What will increasing the quota achieve?

Also, is it wise to go ahead and expand the reservation policy without any study on how the 49% cap works? There is evidence that the creamy layer among the Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Castes has benefited disproportionately from reservation. This means that the real challenge is to redistribute the quota among those already eligible. If seven decades of quota-mongering have not helped sufficiently to overcome caste inefficiencies, how will increasing the quota by another 10-15% help?

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Things can get worse

Is the intention to extend the reservation system to the private sector as well? This will further limit the space for merit-based recruitment. China is already way ahead of India in terms of competitiveness, but Rahul’s excessive focus on caste-based affirmative action can only make things worse. It is worth noting that Karnataka, where the previous Siddaramaiah government had actually conducted a caste survey, is hesitant to go ahead with it for fear of losing Lingayat and Vokkaliga votes. The decision to increase reservation to 65% in Bihar has been quashed by the Patna High Court. The Supreme Court will hear the state government’s appeal in September.

OPINION: Government forms, constitution and elections… caste is everywhere, then why are leaders irritated by caste While reservation battles will ultimately be won or lost in the courts (assuming they are won or lost in assemblies first), it is important to highlight the dangerous nature of Rahul’s politics. Its clear aim is to divide Hindus along caste lines, while consolidating minority votes.

Congress’ electoral strategy

This has always been the Congress’ electoral strategy, until Mandalisation enabled OBC-based parties to resort to the same tactics and oust the Congress from government. The BJP’s answer was to seek multi-caste coalitions under the general umbrella of Hindutva politics. In other words, by trying to go back to the old Congress formula of dividing Hindus, Gandhi is forcing the BJP to push its Hindutva agenda even more forcefully. This is the only way to overcome caste-based divisions, especially when the state has limited resources to provide subsidies and freebies to woo voters.

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Rahul’s casteist politics will start another cycle of religion-based polarisation. It will not end by giving better facilities to the deprived castes. Once the BJP adopts the politics of quotas, as it did after Mandal, it will be logical to move towards Hindu-based politics to win elections.

Wanting to stop polarisation by dividing Hindus

Here is a contrary view that you cannot stop communal polarisation by dividing Hindus alone. In fact, communal harmony is more likely if a consolidated Hindu vote enables Hindus to overcome their sense of powerlessness and strike a fair deal with minorities. The secularism of the Constitution is against Hindus, because one can make laws for Hindus but not for minorities. Only by taking over Hindu temples and institutions can they be destroyed like some public sector units. Articles 25-30, which allow the state to interfere in Hindu affairs but not in the affairs of minorities. This contradiction cannot be tolerated for long.

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Rahul’s politics…wind of division

Rahul’s casteist politics is moving in the direction of the wind of division. They will reap the whirlwind of communal polarisation. If they can demand a caste census, surely the BJP can demand a special religion census (outside the regular census) to prevent adverse demographic changes in some states (Assam, Kerala and Bengal are three such states). Yogi Adityanath in UP and Himanta Biswa Sarma in Assam have already gauged the situation in this regard. If the logic of caste census is to divide the Hindu vote, the logic of Hindutva will be its logical counter.

Courtesy : Hindi News