NEW DELHI: After launching a strong political narrative around reforming the Waqf system, the BJP is now preparing a broad outreach campaign on its decision to implement a caste census. It plans to frame it as part of the upcoming national census to boost social justice for marginalised and underprivileged communities.
Party sources shared with this newspaper that the campaign will particularly target Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Dalits, aiming to counter the Congress’s historical stance. BJP leaders and workers will tour OBC-dominated regions, promoting the government’s commitment to social justice and data-driven policy-making.
The party’s message will highlight that while Congress allegedly leveraged caste politics for electoral advantage, it failed to fulfil long-standing demands for a caste census. In contrast, the BJP plans toposition itself as the party that has taken concrete action on the issue.
Speaking to this newspaper, a senior party functionary said the party intends to expose the Congress’s “hollow claim” on caste census, referencing the party’s alleged opposition to caste-based reservations and its shelving of the Kaka Kalelkar report. “For Congress and other parties, the caste census has been a tool to garner electoral gains, while for us, it is to ensure social justice and equality through the caste enumeration.” remarked a BJP leader.
Home Minister Amit Shah recently criticised Congress and its allies for their position on the caste census. “The Congress and its allies opposed the caste census for decades while in power and played politics over it while in the opposition. The decision of the Modi government will empower all economically and socially backward classes, promote inclusion and pave new paths for the progress of the deprived,” Shah stated.
A senior BJP leader, speaking on anonymity, said, “This is about acknowledging the realities of social structure and ensuring better targeting of welfare schemes. We want to show the people that under PM Modi’s leadership, the party has taken bold steps for inclusive development by deciding to include caste enumeration in the next national census”.
The BJP will remind the public how the UPA government under Manmohan Singh pledged a caste census in 2011 but only carried out the Socio-Economic Caste Census and how its leaders were reluctant about it.
With key states such as Bihar, UP, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal heading to Assembly polls and with national elections scheduled for 2029, the BJP plans to hone its appeal to crucial voter groups, particularly OBCs and Dalits, who could play a decisive role in the upcoming contests.
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