Pandora's box

The Narendra Modi government’s decision to include caste enumeration as part of the next census exercise — the latter is running late by years — has been described by the Bharatiya Janata Party as historic.

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This, though, is a face-saving mechanism on the part of the BJP — historically the BJP and its leaders, including Mr Modi, along with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, have been opposed to such a survey. What has prompted the change, as is often the case in India, are the compulsions of electoral politics. Bihar goes to polls soon. It must be pointed out that Nitish Kumar, as part of the Mahagathbandhan, had conducted and published the findings of a caste survey in that state. A number of states — Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Odisha — have undertaken similar engagements, piling the pressure on Mr Modi’s government. Rahul Gandhi's sustained campaign in favour of a caste census — the Congress, too, changed