BJP Faces Dilemma Over RSS-endorsed Caste Census
New Delhi: The BJP seems to be caught in a dilemma after the RSS gave a green signal to a nationwide caste census, an issue that is being raised by the Congress time and again. While the BJP is maintaining a stoic silence after the RSS indicated that the caste census “could be carried out for the betterment of the people, but not as a political tool”, the Congress hit out at the saffron brigade for planning to “hijack” its agenda.
Even as the BJP’s top leadership, including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, said that “there is no plan to conduct a caste census”, RSS publicity in-charge Sunil Ambekar, addressing a press conference on Monday, had endorsed the concept of a caste census, albeit with a rider that it should “not be used as a political tool.”
He added that a caste census was needed “for all welfare activities, addressing a particular community or caste which is lagging behind… But it should be only to address the welfare of those communities and castes. It should not be used as a political tool for electioneering”.
On Tuesday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asked: “Is the Sangh Parivar, which is in favour of Manusmriti instead of the Constitution of the country, worried about the participation of Dalits, tribals, backward classes and poor-deprived society or not?”
AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh in a post on X asked: “Now that the RSS has given the green signal, will the non-biological Prime Minister hijack another guarantee of the Congress and conduct a caste census”
Responding to the RSS' remarks, Ramesh said that the RSS’ “preaching on caste census raises some basic questions such as… does it have a veto power over the caste census?” The Congress leader asked: “Who is the RSS to give permission for a caste census? What does the RSS mean when it says a caste census should not be misused for electioneering?”
He sought to know further: “Why has the RSS maintained a mysterious silence on the need for a constitutional amendment to remove the 50 per cent cap on reservations for Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs?”
However, as the Congress and the Opposition indulged in a bit of chest-thumping over the issue, the saffron spin doctors were looking for a strategy to deal with the RSS’ tactical support for the caste census.