The issue of caste-census

Motion

Although a favourite political agenda of Congress leader, and Leader of Opposition,Mr Rahul Gandhi, no one had fathomed that ‘Caste Census’ or ‘Caste Issue’ will make an eventful appearance during the Budget Session of Parliament. No one had expected that the ruling BJP-led alliance will trigger the issue in such a manner so as to engulf the high and august office of Prime Minister.

No doubt Mr Gandhi had hammered this issue all through his twin walkathons across the country, and subsequently in Lok Sabha elections, as a weapon of his brand of social justice to woo the underprivileged sections of the society, once Congress’s core vote bank. Along with “save the Constitution campaign”, the caste census proved to be a potent weapon for Congress as well the opposition I.N.D.I.A combine to up a stellar show.

When former Union Minister Anurag Thakur waded into this territory, it certainly was not unknowingly, made certain remarks on Mr Gandhi’s caste while questioning the Congress’ stand on caste census. He must not have realized the intensity of the political storm which he was about to kick strat. The traction it got in the Parliament proceedings and the cumulative effect outside, bear testimony to the intensity of the political storm that will not die down soon.

The manner in which Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi endorsed the entire speech of his “younger colleague” Mr Thakur, including remarks about Mr Gandhi’s caste which were subsequently expunged by Lok Sabha Speaker, was bound to further raise the political temperature. And as expected, it did within short span of time. Was it an inadvertent happening or simply the PM overlooked both the caste factor and the expunction ordered by the chair to pat the loose cannon Mr Thakur?

“Must hear”! This was how the PM endorsed Mr Thakur’s speech in his post on ‘X’. As it happened within moments of heat and dust generated by Mr Thakur targeting Mr Gandhi in terms of his caste, the message was loud and clear for Mr Modi’s ministers, MPs and party-persons. Ostensibly, the agenda had been set for them to follow.

If Mr Thakur, endorsed by his top boss, targeted Mr Gandhi in the name of caste and caste census, questioning the latter’s very political agenda, it was bound to have a rebounding effect. Particularly in this present era of aggressive and personalized political attacks.

A Privilege Motion against Prime Minister was how the Congress chose to react, apart from some barbs at Mr Thakur having lost his ministerial berth this time and as a result acting in a jilted manner. It is rare to bring a privilege motion against a Prime Minister, this time moved by former Punjab Chief Minister and Jalandhar MP, Mr Charanjit Singh Channi, a Dalit leader.

Whatever be the fate of the motion, this is a development of high political value also related to the question of parliamentary propriety. In the current political milieu where word niceties has become a passe in the political arena, and scoring political brownie points at any cost, is the order, credit or discredit goes to the ruling dispensation.

There must have been a well-thought out strategy behind Mr Thakur targeting the Leader of Opposition in terms of his caste. Both in terms of cornering the resurgent Congress under Mr Gandhi, in BJP’s own ways, and at the same time use it as a ploy to divert attention from the serious rumblings which the party is beset with in Uttar Pradesh on the question of its below-par performance in Lok Sabha elections. A developing Modi versus CM Yogi Adityanath rivalry on the issue of fixing responsibility for UP debacle, could not be to the liking of the saffron party’s top brass in Delhi. It is seen as someone challenging Mr Modi’s authority, unheard of during the last decade.

Questions are being raised on Mr Gandhi giving air to casteist politics as means of political rejuvenation of his party. And rightly too. Similar questions should have been vigorously raised when the BJP unfolded a blatant agenda of religious polarization and Mr Modi strode to power on the basis of it. But none of this happened.

There has to be a distinction between raising the issue of caste census by way of social justice and pitting the religious groups against each other to derive political benefit. The ideal situation should be a political firmament without religion and caste. But then politics and idealism are obverse to each other. Nevertheless, the political and ideological contradictions should not be taken to a level where it rips apart the social fabric, to the benefit of the forces antithetical to the country’s rising stature as a world power.

Caste is a societal reality in the country since times immemorial whereas religious polarization is an electoral tool of recent variety. And abundant use of these in elections has also been a naked truth. The overbearing use of caste and religion by the BJP as a poll strategy during the last decade, has led to its manifestations being adopted by all the political players. And the Congress-led opposition is no exception.

Fact of the matter is Mr Gandhi’s caste census idea goes against the grain of BJP’s or the broader Sangh Parivar’s Hindutava agenda. This agenda entails overriding the caste divides to pitch for a united Hindu society. It gave dividends to Mr Modi in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, though got diluted to some extent in 2019.

All this while Congress had been defensively pursuing a soft-Hindu agenda as a counter to BJP’s high-pitched Hindutava plank. It also meant, in some ways, to prevent the underprivileged sections of the society, once the core vote bank of Congress, from reverting back to the same fold. The Congress miserably failed and that is why on a course correction mode.

There is no doubt that the BJP under Mr Modi had succeeded in attracting these sections of the society till 2024 Lok Sabha elections came. Mr Gandhi’s social justice plank in the form of caste census and exploiting the ‘abh ki baar 400 paar’ slogan of Mr Modi, that it was meant to change the constitutional provision to divest the SC/ST and others of reservation benefits, did the trick.

The process of moving a privilege motion against the Prime Minister, no matter what the outcome is, will be etched in the history of Parliamentary records. India lacks a law that defines what is a parliamentary privilege. Article 105 in the Indian Constitution explicitly mentions only two kinds of privileges, freedom of speech in the Parliament and the right to publish the house proceedings.

The privilege motion against PM Mr Modi, apart from the casteist slur against Mr Gandhi, has given yet another dose of Adrenaline to Congress after its much-improved performance in Lok Sabha elections. These developments will certainly echo in the coming phase of assembly elections this year that includes politically significant Maharashtra, Haryana (neighbouring Delhi) and the Tribal dominated Jharkhand.