New Delhi: The recent caste census in Bihar has ignited flames of transformation and equality but experts call it a "political gamble" that can hurt the BJP in the coming time.
On October 2, the Bihar government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar published the results of the complete caste census, which rattled the ruling BJP with several of its ministers and supporters calling this an "incomplete process" to woo the OBC voters.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Prof Rajesh Dev of the Department of Political Science, Delhi University said the way the census has been talked about seems more political rather than bringing in transformation and equality. "People say this is all about Hindutva Politics vs Mandal discourse. And this discourse is self-limiting. The entire debate is being looked at in the prism of elections," Prof Dev said.
"The larger question here is the identification of OBCs. If you look at SCs or even STs, they are more or less very much defined but this is not with OBCs," he said. The survey has shown that 63% of Bihar’s 13 crore population belong to castes listed under the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories.
At the political level, this has opened the floodgates for demand for a country-wide caste census and re-thinking about the 50% legal ceiling on total reservation in education and government services.
With the opposition calling for a similar kind of census in other states, the move has in a way put BJP in a difficult situation. To a question on how it can impact the BJP, Prof Dev replied: "One cannot deny that this can hurt the BJP. Primarily, in the states where it is more dominant such as in UP or Bihar. If you look at the way how this census has been done in Bihar, what has actually happened is that now there is a lot of wooliness about who really constitutes the OBC."
"If you look at the way the Hindutva politics has appropriated certain sections of Dalits and the underprivileged, that are largely under the ambit of OBCs. Theoretically speaking, the larger strategy is to identify the OBCs and wean away from the BJP. And if it happens, this will put BJP in a difficult situation", he added.
Similarly, another professor who teaches at JNU who did not wish to be named said: "The reluctance by the ruling BJP against the caste census reflects that it did not want to suffer any political blow. While it is clear that this is being done politically as we near the elections, it will have negative political ramifications for the BJP."
The Supreme Court last Friday said it will not stop the Bihar government from publishing the details of the caste census, saying that it cannot interfere in the state's policymaking decision.
Also read: Bihar caste survey released: OBCs, EBCs comprise more than 63% of state's population
