Against the grain

The Congress’s demand on caste census is fraught with danger—for the country as well as for itself

The Congress seems to be playing a dangerous game—that of caste politics. Addressing an election rally in Karnataka’s Kolar, Rahul Gandhi has demanded the release of the results of caste census. “UPA in 2011 did the caste-based census. It has the data of all the castes. Mr Prime Minister, you talk of OBCs. Make that data public. Let the nation know how many OBCs, Dalits and tribals are there in the country,” he said, adding that there are only 7 per cent other backward classes (OBCs), Dalits and tribals as secretaries in the Central Government. He is also against any cap on reservations. The Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) was carried out during 2011-12 under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime. Evidently, this is not a one-off remark to impress upon some sections of society in a constituency or a state; party president Mallikarjun Kharge also made the same demand on the same day. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he wrote that the census data could not be published “even though Congress and other MPs demanded its release after your government came to power in May 2014.” In the absence of an updated caste census, social justice and empowerment programmes would be incomplete, he added. While the grand old party’s stance on caste census is fraught with danger, its arguments for the release of the data are deeply flawed.

For one, the Congress is a national, all-inclusive party that can ill-afford to be sensitive to the interests of only one section of society. This is the reason that the GOP was never very enthusiastic about the Mandal Commission recommendations, the social justice rhetoric, etc. For almost a decade, the governments under Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi let the Mandal report gather dust. Even when former prime minister VP Singh did announce its implementation, Rajiv Gandhi was among the very few mainstream politicians to have slammed the report. He rightly denounced Singh for his obstinacy: “Let us not have one man’s obstinacy holding India hostage… Let that man’s obstinacy not lead to caste war.” Unfortunately, his son seems to be ignoring his wise words; in a bid to appease his allies in Bihar, Rahul is simply echoing the views of the ideological and political progeny of Mandal and Singh. The Congress’ demand is flawed because it is predicated upon the erroneous doctrine that welfare measures cannot be implemented without knowing the caste details of demography. This has been repudiated in recent years by the various schemes launched and executed by the Modi Government. Owing to the heavy reliance on technology (and of course the political resolve to directly reach the beneficiary), the Government was able to implement them with remarkable success. This also got reflected in several election results. The GOP would be well-advised to not go against the grain.

Source: The Pionneer