Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the Opposition of continuing to commit the “paap” (sin) of dividing society along caste lines, in an oblique attack on his rivals over the Bihar caste census, an issue the BJP is wary of confronting.
Addressing a rally at Gwalior in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Modi sought to accuse the “anti-development” Opposition, particularly the Congress, of wasting six decades in power by engaging in the “game” of playing with the emotions of the poor. He, however, did not directly refer to the Bihar caste census data.
“The country had given six decades to these anti-development people. They (the Opposition) had the opportunity but they couldn’t do anything. It is their failure,” he said.
“Then too they used to play with the emotions of the poor, and today too they are playing the same game. Then too they used to divide society in the name of caste, and today too they are committing the same sin,” Modi added.
The comments came against the backdrop of the Nitish Kumar-led alliance government in Bihar publishing the caste census figures of the state that showed 63 per cent of the population were OBC, out of which 36 per cent belonged to the Extremely Backward Classes.
The Congress, like many of the INDIA parties, has been demanding a caste census across the country but the Modi government has been sidestepping the issue while not rejecting such an exercise outright, given the political sensitivities involved.
The BJP fears that counting castes could resurrect Mandal politics, veering around caste-proportionate reservation, and this could spell political trouble for the party in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections next year.
The BJP's political and ideological stress is on highlighting religion and not allowing caste to disturb the wider Hindutva umbrella.
The BJP strategically plays the OBC card by highlighting that Prime Minister Modi hails from that category but avoids dwelling too much on the issue, fearing that it could upset its traditional upper caste voters.
A socio-economic and caste census was conducted in 2011-12 by the then UPA government but the Modi dispensation did not make its caste data public. The Opposition has been demanding that the report be released.
Possibly because of these concerns, the central BJP avoided any official response over the Bihar caste census. Information and broadcasting minister Anurag Singh Thakur addressed the media at the party headquarters in the evening to slam the Trinamul Congress for its protest in Delhi but parried questions on the caste census.
"The report (the Bihar caste census) has been published today. We will study it in detail and then come before you," Thakur said when asked to respond.
Some Bihar BJP leaders, however, commented on the census and dismissed it as a useless exercise.
"It's not a caste-based census, it's a census based on caste groups. Where is each caste's financial or educational status documented and which castes have not benefited from reservation? Will you formulate caste-based policies or initiatives? What will you derive from this? You won't gain anything from this, you've only wasted Rs 500 crore," Ajay Alok, a crossover from the JDU who was appointed national spokesperson of the BJP on Monday, said in a video message put out by news agency PTI.
