Caste surveys have been conducted in the states earlier also. It was never felt necessary to release the figures also. The issue of caste census got a strong political base in Bihar, when Nitish Kumar took the initiative against Tejashwi Yadav even while running the government with BJP. Caste census was conducted in Bihar, and after being presented in the Assembly, a proposal to increase the limit of reservation was also passed. But the High Court put a stay, and the Supreme Court also confirmed the High Court’s decision – now Nitish Kumar is saying that he has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to include Bihar’s proposal in the Ninth Schedule.
The latest debate that has started after Rahul Gandhi’s mention of caste census in Parliament is not a new matter. While presenting the Women’s Bill in the special session of Parliament in 2023, Rahul Gandhi had raised the demand for OBC reservation – and then started demanding caste census through social media. Later, a resolution regarding this was also passed in the Congress executive, after which during the assembly elections, he kept promising to conduct a caste census if he came to power. Rahul Gandhi’s election promises had no effect in the assembly elections, but the opposition made huge gains in the Lok Sabha elections – and now preparations are underway to capitalize on it further.
The question is, who is going to benefit from the ongoing debate on caste census? To the ruling NDA at the center or to the INDIA block that has emerged as a stronger opposition than before?
After the results of the caste survey conducted in Bihar came out, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to directly dismiss this issue from his side, and also tried to explain what is the intention of the opposition parties behind the caste census.
Even while presenting the General Budget 2024, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the focus of the interim budget has been the poor, women, youth and farmers – in fact, these are the same four classes which Prime Minister Modi presented as the four major castes of the country. Was.
But now the debate on caste census is going ahead, it is just a political fight, in which the opposition is trying to check the BJP – and from the reaction of Anurag Thakur in the Parliament, it does not seem that BJP is on this issue. Is taking seriously.
Did anyone ask anyone’s caste?
The debate going on on social media, did the same thing happen in Parliament also? Questions are being raised on the name of caste on social media. An old video of Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav has also gone viral again, in which he is hinting towards caste by telling the surname to a journalist – Akhilesh Yadav, standing on behalf of Rahul Gandhi in the Parliament too, had asked the question – How can you ask someone’s caste? Actually, people are trying to show the mirror to Akhilesh Yadav through old videos.
But did anyone ask anyone’s caste in Parliament? If yes, then who and from whom did he ask his caste?
What happened was that on Rahul Gandhi’s demand for caste census, BJP MP Anurag Thakur had said sarcastically, “The one whose caste is not known talks about census!”
On this sarcasm of Anurag Thakur, Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP MP of humiliating himself, but also said that he does not want to apologize from Anurag Thakur – because he is fighting a battle. From his side he also explained that he is fighting for the oppressed and deprived class.
But Akhilesh Yadav, while standing up and defending Rahul Gandhi, got angry at BJP MP Anurag Thakur and attacked him. Akhilesh Yadav started saying, how can you ask someone’s caste?
In fact, Rahul Gandhi has many times tried to make the caste issue of officers posted in the Central Government an issue. While bringing the Women’s Bill in the Parliament, Rahul Gandhi had said in the Central Government that out of 90 secretaries in the Central Government, only 3 belong to the OBC category – and in the same way, Rahul Gandhi had claimed while showing the picture of the budget halwa. That 20 officials made the country’s budget, but only one of them is a minority and one is an OBC, and not a single Dalit or tribal among them.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said, ‘Only 2-3 percent people in the government are preparing halwa… the same number of people are eating halwa, and the rest of India is not getting it.’
Is BJP starting to fall into the trap of Congress?
Of course, there is a continuous response from the BJP, but the problem is that the agenda is being set by the opposition led by the Congress, and the BJP is being forced to respond – overall it can be said that this The entire narrative is going against BJP’s politics.
The question is, why is BJP getting entangled in the caste discourse of Congress? BJP’s mother organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has always been against such things. Where the Sangh runs a campaign for a well, a cremation ground and a temple among the Hindus, and where the BJP leaders are unnecessarily getting entangled in the debate on caste census.
This debate also seems to be similar to the issue of DNA in the 2015 Bihar elections. Everyone knows what the result was, but instead of trying to control itself, BJP is getting trapped in the opposition’s strategy.
Anurag Thakur has again trapped BJP towards 2020 Delhi Assembly elections. Now BJP is forced to say that Anurag Thakur has spoken, so it will have to be defended. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also shared a video of Anurag Thakur, and has stressed that he should be heard. The video is of Anurag Thakur’s speech, in which he is trying to put Rahul Gandhi in the dock on the pretext of Shashi Tharoor’s book ‘The Great Indian Novel’. Actually, it is a comic-satire novel in which Shashi Tharoor is discussing the then leaders in the background of Mahabharata, in which comparisons have been made with the characters of Mahabharata. In 2015, on the completion of 25 years of the publication of his novel, Shashi Tharoor had said at a literary festival in Kolkata, I am fortunate that my book was not banned, and after that I have never looked back.
Anurag Thakur needed a chance. BJP has certainly won all four seats of Himachal Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections, but despite this the anger of the party leadership has not diminished. Anurag Thakur not being made a minister in the central government shows that BJP has not forgotten the defeat in Himachal Pradesh assembly elections – obviously Anurag Thakur is doing all this only to please the leadership. Certainly this may be personally beneficial for Anurag Thakur, but is it a profitable deal for BJP also? After losing the Delhi Assembly elections in 2020, BJP leader Amit Shah had also admitted in an interview that the speeches of leaders like Anurag Thakur were made an issue by the opposition, which went against the BJP. Then a slogan of Anurag Thakur became very popular, ‘Shoot the traitors of the country…’
Does the BJP leadership not feel that Anurag Thakur has repeated the mistake of Delhi elections out of personal interest? Even if Anurag Thakur has not taken Rahul Gandhi’s name in Parliament.
Is Congress succeeding in its mission?
Keeping aside the election issues of Jammu and Kashmir, assembly elections are going to be held in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand this year, which is very important for the BJP to win at any cost, so that it can compensate for the performance in the Lok Sabha elections – and its Besides, by-elections are also going to be held on 10 assembly seats of Uttar Pradesh.
The way caste politics is being made an issue by Rahul Gandhi and he is getting support from Akhilesh Yadav, it is clear that all this is being done keeping in mind the by-elections of UP. BJP should not forget that this issue will not have any impact on the by-elections – because anyway, the ‘good days’ of BJP are not going at all at all. Many such things are happening which go against BJP, including train accidents, and BJP’s opponents can easily benefit from it.
It is not known whether BJP’s strategists are able to understand this or not, but Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is seeing immense benefits in caste politics. The first advantage is that Rahul Gandhi is comfortably cornering BJP in a packed Parliament. The second advantage is that Congress is getting strong support from political parties like Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal in the name of caste politics. The third advantage is that by setting such a narrative, Rahul Gandhi is trying to make a place in the hearts of the backward class people, so that the OBC section which has turned its back on Congress can be reconnected.
If Congress gets the votes of backward people and Dalits in the Lok Sabha elections, it is actually the votes of Samajwadi Party or RJD which have been received by transfer, but what will happen when Congress stands on its feet and gets chased by regional parties? Would like to get rid of. Who can understand better than Akhilesh Yadav what opinion Rahul Gandhi has about regional parties. Right now it is an alliance of compulsion, when both Congress and Samajwadi Party started realizing that it is difficult to compete with BJP without holding each other’s hand, then they adopted this path.
Welfare is possible only if BJP also understands the tactics of Congress led INDIA block leaders in time. What could be a bigger lesson for BJP than the condition of Congress?
There is only one thing in favor of BJP. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who conducted the caste census in Bihar, is still with the BJP – but can he save the BJP from getting trapped in caste politics? The problem is that Nitish Kumar had got the caste census done by being with the anti-BJP camp.