Has Nitish Kumar's crossover to the NDA from the INDIA bloc ahead of the Lok Sabha polls undercut his demand for a nationwide caste census? We can't be sure. The BJP had indeed opposed the move. But a possible rethink by the party could be on the cards after the setbacks in the recent Lok Sabha polls. Interesting in the context is the party's deputy CM in Bihar lending support to the move in the state.
The implementation of the Mandal Commission and the ascendancy of caste-based politics in the 1990s sparked a revival of "Kamandal" politics, symbolising Hindu religious identity and practices. This era marked the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other right-wing groups, rallying around Hindu identity issues, notably the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
"Kamandal" politics, thus, emerged as a counterforce to Mandal politics, prioritising religious identity over caste identity. The BJP's opposition to a caste census establishes the continuation of its emphasis on Hindu unity and its attempt to consolidate the Hindu vote bank. Implementing a caste census could potentially disrupt this narrative.
In 2021, the Union government dismissed the idea of conducting a Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC), labelling such an endeavour as administratively challenging and cumbersome, aside from the traditional enumeration of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The government cited a range of administrative, operational, and logistical challenges.
The push for a caste census is particularly strong in the Hindi belt states, where the opposition believes that siphoning off a significant portion of backward caste votes from the BJP is crucial for their electoral prospects. Parties such as the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which traditionally enjoy support from backward-class groups, view this less as a matter of welfare and more as a strategic move to consolidate their voter base.
The prospect of a caste-based census opens a Pandora's box, with uncertain implications for welfare politics and the potential to realign political parties' electoral bases. Nitish Kumar's latest alliance with the BJP raises questions about his party's commitment to social justice principles. His stance on reservations, based on caste proportions, now seems less stable.
Demand for reservations
In 2022, the government of Bihar undertook a noteworthy initiative by conducting a caste-based survey, an effort that cost nearly Rs 5 billion from its contingency fund.
This comprehensive survey documented the 214 castes listed by the Bihar government. The findings revealed a significant demographic composition: Other Backward Classes (OBCs) constituted 27%, and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) 36%, together accounting for over 63% of Bihar's population. In contrast, the population of "forward" castes, or the "General" category, was recorded at merely 15.5%. Additionally, the data highlighted that Scheduled Castes (SCs) made up about 20% (2.6 crore) of the population, while Scheduled Tribes (STs) represented a smaller fraction at 1.6% (22 lakh).
On November 9, 2023, the Bihar Assembly unanimously passed a Bill to increase reservation for Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from the existing 50% to 65%. The quota for the Extremely Backward Class (EBC) will be raised from 18% to 25%, for Backward Class (BC) from 12% to 18%, for Scheduled Caste (SC) from 16% to 20%, and for Scheduled Tribe (ST) from 1% to 2%. The existing 3% reservation for BC women has been scrapped.
The Patna High Court dismissed the amendments passed by the legislature. The PIL filed against the reservation argued that the decision was based on the proportion of castes, not on adequate representation in government jobs. The government contended that it was based on lack of representation rather than the proportion. Despite this, Nitish Kumar had explicitly paraded the slogan "jiski jitni sankhya bhaari, uski utni hisse daari" in party meetings, indicating a proportion-based approach.
As a result, only 35% of seats will be allotted for the general category. In its judgment, the High Court also reasoned that the caste survey report relied upon by the state revealed that backward communities were adequately represented in public employment, both through reservation and merit. The court added that the state should consider keeping total reservations within the 50% limit and exclude the creamy layer from these benefits.
Consequently, the Bihar government moved the Supreme Court on July 2, challenging the directive of the Patna High Court. It will be interesting to see if the Supreme Court allows the 65% reservation against the 50% ceiling that it had previously set.
The creamy layer in the beneficiaries
Reservation has now been in existence for over fifty years, and each year that equality is not achieved, reservation is extended. Communities listed as beneficiaries under positive discrimination policies are not removed from this list, even if their social and political conditions improve.
Despite these affirmative action policies, many communities that were previously low in the caste hierarchy remain at the bottom of the social order today.
There are no clear criteria for identifying the beneficiaries eligible for OBC reservations as outlined in the Constitution, which threatens the legitimacy of these reservations. It’s up to the discretion of states; the State Backward Commission decides if a given caste should be included under the OBCs.
The issue of reservation has become deeply intertwined with politics, reducing it to a mere vote bank strategy for politicians. This political reality has hindered significant attempts to eliminate reservation altogether, leading to the proliferation of various reservation schemes across different states.
The JD(U) will have a bigger voice now that it’s part of the central government. Recently, the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar who is from the BJP, Samrat Choudhary, stated that the party supported the caste census in Bihar.
The BJP faced the consequences of the Hindu vote bank being divided along caste lines in Uttar Pradesh, reducing its seats from 62 to 33 in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Now, while in coalition with the JD(U), it will be interesting to see how it navigates the case of the caste census and reservations, manoeuvring through the demands made by Nitish Kumar, standing strong on its ideological stance, and learning from the lessons of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
(Swetasree Ghosh Roy is a Professor of Political Science at Jindal School of Government and Public Policy. Jheel Doshi is a third year student of Economics at Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, O.P. Jindal Global University.)
