New Delhi:
The government, under pressure from the Opposition and several of its own ministers, is deciding whether to include caste in the current census. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told NDTV last week that caste would make the cut, but that the government would not analyze the data collected.
And as the government tries to make peace with that decision, one that a few ministers like P Chidambaram were allegedly against, the main Opposition party stands divided on the issue.
A caste census brings back the ghosts of Mandal One for the saffron parivar. The BJP battles a huge dilemma - one faction, including party president Nitin Gadkari is against caste and the census- the stand also of the BJP's parent body, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh. The other faction, fearing political isolation, does want caste in the census.
This dilemma was highlighted best by BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar's recent angry outburst against Mandalites in Parliament. "You decide if you are with India, Bangladesh or Pakistan," Ananth Kumar had said to Lalu Yadav. Another senior BJP leader, Gopinath Munde, argues, "What's wrong if a person writes his caste during the census?"
The Sangh's top leaders worry that the focus on caste will create new fissures and work against the Sangh's nationalist agenda.
Privately, the BJP fears that the census could eventually create new caste satraps, especially among Most Backward Castes (MBCs). Their rise could upset the BJP's core support base - the upper caste. But the party also worries that if it lags behind in finding those leaders, it may lose the MBC vote.
On record, the party's line is "In a casteless system, everybody will like it. But to wither away the caste, you need some affirmative action based on caste"- the words of BJP spokesperson Prakash Javdekar.
In the 1990s, the party saw the rise of backward caste leaders like Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharati. Though the BJP's upper caste lobby eventually edged them out, the political landscape has changed now. Nearly 40 per cent of the BJP's MPs today are from backward castes. So are many of its leaders - Narendra Modi, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, and Sushil Modi.
The BJP recalls that those who opposed Mandal One lost out politically.