WHY THE BJP PLAYED THE CASTE CARD

After sustained ambivalence on the issue, the party pivots to greenlight the caste enumeration exercise. It’s a high-stakes gamble, suggesting a strategic shift in the Hindutva 2.0 strategy

- By ANILESH S. MAHAJAN

THE BJP-LED UNION GOVERNMENT HAS PERFORMED a stunning pivot on the question of the caste census. After years of remaining ambivalent on the issue-and even deriding the idea as divisive-Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government now says it will enumerate the nation's myriad castes in the much delayed decadal census. The unexpected turn is the result of a complex interplay of issues-electoral calculus, state-level pressures and a recognition that caste realities can no longer be ignored, even for a party that built its brand on the promise of a 'casteless' Hindutva nationalism. There's also a bevy of state elections coming up, most importantly in Bihar, where being on the right side of the caste cohort debate could pay rich dividends.

Indeed, many see the caste survey as a political gamble aimed at outflanking Mandal-era parties on their home turf, blunting the Congress's social justice pitch, and recasting the BJP as the new custodian of the Bahujan samaj.

For decades, the BJP avoided taking a stand on caste-based enumeration. While leaders like the late Gopinath Munde, a prominent OBC voice from Maharashtra, had made a compelling case in Parliament in 2011, the party remained noncommittal. This despite many in Modi's cabinet, the BJP and the Sangh's samarasta (social harmony) manch backing it. In 2021, the government also reiterated in both Parliament and the Supreme Court that it would not undertake such a census.