Have the allies of the National Democratic Alliance whose support props up the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre found their voice? The Janata Dal (United) and the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) had been critical, along with the Opposition, of the Centre’s initial endorsement of lateral entry into the bureaucracy on account of its anti-reservation leanings. Mr Modi’s regime had blinked on that occasion. More recently, they have disagreed with the decision by Himanta Biswa Sarma to discontinue the break for Friday prayers for Muslim MLAs in Assam. A sterner test perhaps awaits Mr Modi and his party with the JD(U) and the LJP joining the chorus for a caste census along with the Opposition. The Opposition had been vociferous in its demand, especially after its campaign accusing Mr Modi’s government of plotting to change the Constitution and do away with reservations bore electoral fruit. Nitish Kumar, now a BJP ally after yet another of his somersaults, had set the ball rolling by conducting a caste census in Bihar. The LJP, too, is on the same page on the matter.

The caste census is tricky territory for the BJP. Going ahead with it would certainly strain its ties with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that has traditionally been adversarial to such an initiative. But there is an even greater risk. The BJP’s political ascendancy has been contingent upon its remarkable ability to mobilise the backward castes by bringing them within the larger fold of Hindutva. The findings of a caste census, especially if it were to reveal an uneven distribution of welfarism among underprivileged social constituencies, would threaten to topple the social pyramid that has been instrumental in facilitating the BJP’s electoral dominance. Whether the BJP under Mr Modi bites the caste bullet remains to be seen. But what it can do is expedite the national census. The 2011 census data are now too old to formulate policies. The Covid-19 pandemic, one of the impediments cited for the delay in the census, is long over: many nations finished their census despite the pandemic. The NDA’s allies and the Opposition must speak in one voice so that the powers that be hasten the conduct of this crucial exercise.