IN the run-up to the 2024 elections, Rahul Gandhi in particular talked of the need for a caste census. This was supported by many opposition leaders. Congress-ruled states and NDA-ruled Bihar also carried out the census. The issue was one of the major planks of the opposition’s slight revival in the polls after being in the dumps for long.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi opposed the caste census tooth and nail, terming it part of the Urban Naxal philosophy. The BJP’s parent organisation, the RSS, called it a ploy to divide Hindu society. In this background, the Modi Cabinet recently decided to include caste as part of the forthcoming census. As such, the census, which was due in 2021, has been pushed forward. There are many guesses as to why the BJP has decided to get this done.
There is a view that this is being done keeping the forthcoming elections in Bihar in mind. As such, the timeline for this caste census and conversion of the findings into policy has not been outlined. The most likely reason may be the electoral compulsions in Bihar and other future elections. It is clear that the plank of Rahul Gandhi in particular has been the caste census and lifting of the ceiling of 50% on reservations. This got a positive response from substantial sections of the electorate and so RSS-BJP were forced to venture into social justice despite their staunch opposition to it.
It can be unhesitatingly said that the foundation of RSS was laid mainly to oppose the rising awareness of Dalits for social justice, particularly after the efforts of Jyotiba Phule and later by Bhimrao Ambedkar, the pioneers of social justice in the last two centuries. As Dalit awareness started taking root, upper castes started feeling uncomfortable and came up with the concept of the Hindu nation. It goes without saying that the Manusmriti was the core principle guiding their social values.
The second Sarsanghchalak of RSS, MS Golwalkar, eulogised the laws of Manu as being most ancient and needed to be emulated in the present times. As Gandhi, particularly after 1932, began his yeoman efforts to work against caste system, going from village to village ensuring that Dalits can enter public places, temples and benefit from water sources, the RSS kept totally aloof from any such effort and kept training its swayamsevaks and pracharaks in the values of caste and gender hierarchy.
Savarkar, whom RSS regards greatly, did make some efforts against the caste system, but they were hardly deep-seated and in due course were eclipsed by his politics of loyalty to British rule. While opposing the Indian Constitution, he articulated that the Manusmriti is the law today. In opposing the Constitution, RSS mouthpiece Organizer said there is hardly anything Indian in the Indian Constitution, as it ignores the great values of their holy tome, the Manusmiriti.
Its major base initially was the upper caste Brahmin-Baniya in particular. Other upper castes rooted in values of caste and gender hierarchy also backed the RSS.
In due course as electoral compulsions dawned upon the Hindutva forces, they consciously worked for co-opting Dailts, Advasis and OBC into their vortex. They floated ‘Samajik Samrasta Manch’ (Social Harmony Forum) to work among Dalits to win them over from the politics of Hindu Nationalism. They praised different jatis, castes, as great contributors to the Hindu Samaj. Their publication of books in history and the ‘greatness’ of various jatis was a statement to cajole the low castes into their net. Hindu Charmakar Jati, Hindu Valmiki Jati and Hindu Khatik Jati were three major volumes that were released by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who stated that all castes were equal.
They also identified icons from these castes and presented them as great heroes of Hindu society and gave an anti-Muslim slant to them. Raja Suhel Dev is an example of this strategy, where the man from the Parsi community was projected to woo Dalits. Eating with them was undertaken and this fed into the process of Sanskritisation, gradually winning sections of Dalits as their foot soldiers.
Various other strategies like campaigning among Dalits that the BJP is the only party not appeasing Muslims, who are the enemies of Hindu society. They started being drawn to RSS shakhas and many of them were given some important positions. A section of Dalit leaders was wooed with power and resources, like Ram Vilas Paswan and Ramdas Athawale.
The testing time for RSS-BJP and social justice was the implementation of the Mandal Commission. The upper caste responded to this in a very hostile manner, to the extent of self-immolation by one of them. RSS-BJP knew that opposing it openly would be detrimental to their electoral interests. So, they did not verbally oppose it but drew a bigger line in response to Mandal in the form of Kamandal. They intensified the Babri demolition campaign with full gusto and succeeded in polarising the upper caste. This opened the path to electoral power for them and the electoral support for this sectarian politics zoomed up quickly.
This time around it will be interesting to see how they will handle the caste census to circumvent the interests of the upper castes. The upper castes are aghast at the idea of a caste census by the party of their choice, the party that has been nurturing their interests. One knows that RSS is deeply entrenched in the social and political system of the country. It is already said that the OBC census should not be used for political purposes. It is capable of devising new language to halt the march of social justice while paying lip service to the caste census.
It is time for all political parties that have a deeper commitment to the Indian Constitution to come on the same platform to stand with the agenda of social justice. Honest implementation of the results of the caste census needs to be taken up on a priority basis for having a just and humane society.
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Ram Puniyani is an eminent author, activist and a former professor at IIT Mumbai. The views expressed here are personal and Clarion India does not necessarily share or subscribe to them.
