It is easily forgotten that the makers of the Constitution had provided for reservations in government jobs and educational institutions for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes only for the first 10 years in the newly-created Republic. The idea was that once the traditionally deprived sections attained a certain economic, social and even political status, there would be no need for special provision for them. Those 10 years have long come and gone. Indeed, since then several decades have passed but the wish of the Founding Fathers to end reservations remains unfulfilled. And we cannot see in the foreseeable future anyone daring to even suggest an end to the original reservations. No way. Indeed, when the short-lived Janata Party government set up the Second Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission in 1979 this paper had raised its voice against it, warning that it would further divide society on caste lines. The Commission headed by B P Mandal submitted its report in December 1980 when Indira Gandhi was prime minister. She put the report in cold storage. And there it stayed for a long time despite shrill demands from leaders of the Lohia-ite groups to release it. It was Prime Minister VP Singh who in order to save his tottering government played the Mandal card in 1990.
Ever since, no one has been able to put the genie of caste-based reservations back in the bottle. And the malaise has further spread, dividing and sub-dividing the people further on caste lines. Even if some people conflate caste with class in the old Marxist tradition, the fact is that the canker of caste has spread so fast that every state now offers a veritable kaleidoscope of caste- and sub-caste-based reservations, causing politicians to form caste-based parties. In otherwise progressive States like Tamil Nadu and Kerala there are plethora of small caste-specific groups which the main parties are obliged to woo at election time. Such fragmentation can be seen in UP and increasingly in Bihar as well. In this context, the RSS project to unite the majority community around religion and the national flag unmindful of endemic caste divisions is an unaccomplished mission. And is condemned to remain so, given how politicians in their quest for short-cuts to power exploit various caste and sub-castes for creating loyal vote banks. Though initially resisting the Mandal Commission reservations, both the Congress and the BJP had to fall in line for electoral survival. Principles took a back seat to the need to win elections. Unfortunately, a further fragmentation of society on castelines is assured if the demand for a caste census gains favour with the Supreme Court which is hearing a PIL against the one undertaken by the Bihar government. The ruling coalition of the Janata Dal and the RJD with their roots firmly planted in the post-Mandal awakening of the intermediate castes aims to force the BJP on the back foot with its caste survey, given that it seeks to break the BJP’s carefully-crafted coalition of various economically weaker sub-castes ahead of the Parliamentary poll. Finding itself on the defensive, the central government in its affidavit asserted that the Constitution empowered it alone to undertake such surveys. Immediately upon filing the above affidavit, the Centre withdrew it, realising that it could be exploited by the Opposition.
It is a ticklish issue politically, though on an a priori consideration a caste census ought to be a no-brainer. In other words, sooner rather than later a country-wide caste survey would become inevitable. Probably, the Centre can still offset the potential harm for such a survey by arguing before the apex court that it would soon undertake the long-overdue decennial census. Even though the manner in which the census has been conducted every ten years leaves much to be desired, yet even an imperfect head-count serves as a useful aid in economic and social planning. Now that post-Covid normalcy has returned, we see no reason for the census to be postponed any further. Subsuming the caste survey in the nation-wide census would take the potential sting from the former and put paid to the narrow political agenda of the JD(U)-RJD coalition in Bihar. It would at least buy time for the Centre till after the 2024 Parliamentary poll. Whether the decennial census results eventually into a fresh delimitation of Parliamentary constituencies and thus pitting the fast growing but population-wise lagging southern states, remains to be seen. But that should not result in the census being put off indefinitely.
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