Caste dynamics may shape elections in heartland states

Caste politics is heating up in the three Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh ahead of elections next month in what some political experts see as the first test for the Congress's pitch of caste census.

- Ranjan Srivastava, Urvashi Dev Raval and Ritesh Mishra

The Congress and some other members of the INDIA bloc of opposition parties see the caste census, potentially followed by proportionate reservations, as a way to combat the BJP and challenge its political dominance.

These parties believe this will negate the success the BJP has had in appealing to non-dominant Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Scheduled Castes and Tribes, sections of which now form a part of its voter base. Although the last caste census was done in 2011, its findings were not released.

As per the OBC survey done by Chhattisgarh government in 2022, around 43.5% of the state's population comprises OBCs; the Madhya Pradesh Backward Classes commission has pegged the state's OBC population at 48% of the overall population and the Rajasthan backward commission estimates that 42% of the state's population is made up of OBCs.

In Madhya Pradesh, chief minister and BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan has approved nine welfare boards for OBC communities such as Kurmi, Teli and Vishwakarma; Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has set up eight welfare boards for OBC communities such as Mehgwal and Dhanka; and the Chhattisgarh government has set up four welfare boards for OBC communities. Many of these have been created in the past year.

In addition, the Rajasthan government notified a caste survey on October 7, two days before polls for five states were announced.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has announced caste surveys in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh in the past one week, days after Rahul Gandhi termed the caste census as "progressive, historic and powerful step" for emancipation of the poor people.

All of this follows Bihar's caste survey, conducted earlier this year, and results for which was released on October 2, showing that Backward Classes account for 63% of the state's population. BJP leaders, on the other hand, have maintained that such surveys can create "further divide" among castes.