Rajendra Prasad Gupta

Those raising the divisive demand may think that it would help them politically. But at what cost?

The noise for caste census tends to inevitably surface in India whenever it is time for the 10-year general census. Not surprising that ahead of the launch of the upcoming 2021 census, several political parties have revived the demand for a nationwide caste-based census.

In such a scenario, it becomes critical to ask how desirable is a caste census. In the past, the issue became an electoral plank in states like Tamil Nadu. Many political parties in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are making a strong pitch for a caste census. In Bihar, a resolution was passed by both the houses of legislature, and aneleven-member delegation of 10 political parties, under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to put forward this demand.

But such a step needs to be thoroughly discussed and assessed keeping in mind the national interests and the unity of the nation. And to do so, all the political parties need to rise above divisive politics and work in the interest of the country and the society. This is not a simple matter to be decided in haste since it can threaten the unity and integrity of the nation.

This is not the first time that this demand for caste census has come up. The last caste census was done in India in the year 1931, but due to the outbreak of World War II, it was not taken up in 1941 and never again thereafter. After Independence in 1947, a proposal for caste census was made before the then government in 1951, but it was dismissed. The then Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel rejected it saying that a caste census could disturb the social fabric of the country.

The demand was again raised in 2011 but the government at that time also rejected it and conducted a survey on an economic basis instead. That survey is today utilized by the Union Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the benefit of the downtrodden. Many schemes have been implemented for the deprived and backward classes and millions of Indians have benefitted from it.

The welfare schemes include distribution of free food grains to the poor, free gas cylinders to women, the opening of bank accounts through Jan Dhan Yojana, Rs 6,000 assistance to farmers per year, and Ayushman Bharat for the uplift of people from the last rungs of the society. It is the need of the hour to ensure an equitable development of society.

How ironic is it that politicians who allegedly follow the paths of intellectuals like Jayaprakash Narayan and Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia are raising their voices in favour of the caste census when the truth is that both theleaders were strongly against it? They believed that casteism would be a hindrance to the development of India. Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan considered social revolution truly important in the “Saat Kranti” and always propagated that the caste system should be abolished by eradicating the discrimination based on caste. He started his movement in 1974 in his village Sitab-Diyara and around ten thousand people present in that meeting resolved to leave the caste system behind by breaking their sacred threads. Along with this, JP had given the slogan”? (leave the caste, break the sacred thread, connect human to human). It is ridiculous that the very politicians who swear by JP day and night are today fanning the heat around the demand for the caste-based census.

Dr. Lohia also believed caste to be a symbol of orthodox forces that promote inertia. Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution of India, was also a staunch opponent of casteism and used to say that casteism cannot increase efficiency and neither can ethnicity improve race.

Undoubtedly, the ill effects of the caste census would largely harm Hindus. To maintain social harmony, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has undertaken many historical works. Apart from this, many great personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay have advocated social harmony by doing away with the evils of the caste system. All these social reformers believed that all-round development in India would be possible only by eliminating the caste system. Then only we could hope to build a great nation earn the respect of the global community.

In such a situation, raising the bogey of caste census would be against the ideals of these great leaders and an insult to their legacies. This will lead to a divided society and encourage caste politicization, which would threaten the unity and integrity of the nation.

Those raising the divisive demand may think that it would help them politically. But at what cost? They should realize that they are playing in the hands of forces that want to divide and break the country.

At this time, we must look back at the lesson few learned from our history and understand how the Britishers ruled over us by dividing us along caste lines.  Why should we unleash the same evil design all over again? We should remember the price we have paid due to the promotion of caste-based politics.  The relative backwardness of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh is linked to their dominant caste-based politics. The census itself is a very complex task. Whenever a new entry is registered in the census, a new kind of politics is also born out of it. This leads to the formation of new parties and associations based on caste, which in no way strengthens the unity of the country. A good society should not be inclined to save caste dominance but to strengthen democracy. How unfortunate it is that even after 75 years of independence, we are going on the path of destruction instead of development. That is why this issue needs to be discussed thoroughly in a country with the second-highest population in the world and hundreds of castes.  A caste census will further divide people and spur competition amongst them to increase the population of their respective castes.

This will make our country lag behind in multiple spheres. The price the country will pay in terms of development is unimaginable.It is obvious that caste census is a demand that strikes at the unity and integrity of India by threatening to destroy social harmony.

This is totally against the ideals of “one India”. The political parties and opinion makers as well intelligential must come together on one platform and push the agenda of India's development and not its disunity.

(The writer is Vice-President of BJP in Bihar and a Member of Bihar Legislative Council. The views expressed are personal.)