Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has called for an all-party meeting a day after the controversial caste-based survey of the state was released. During the meeting, Kumar will present the censor report’s findings and accordingly decide on the next course of action.
The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar on Monday released findings of its much-awaited caste survey months ahead of the 2024 Parliamentary elections, which revealed that OBCs and EBCs constitute a whopping 63 per cent of the state’s total population.
The data which could spur demands for similar caste-based census elsewhere is a key agenda of the opposition INDIA bloc which may well help Kumar and the alliance in the forthcoming elections in the Hindi heartland where caste politics plays a major part.
In a blow for the Nitish Kumar government, the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear Caste Survey conducted by the Bihar government on October 6.
According to the data released here by Development Commissioner Vivek Singh, the state’s total population stood at a little over 13.07 crore, out of which the Extremely Backward Classes (36 per cent) were the largest social segment followed by the Other Backward Classes at 27.13 per cent.
Backward caste politicians have long claimed that the population of castes they represented numbered far more than the conventional wisdom based on the 1931 census, which was the last time a caste headcount was conducted and released.
The survey also stated that Yadavs, the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, were the largest in terms of the population, accounting for 14.27 per cent of the total.
Dalits, also known as the Scheduled Castes, accounted for 19.65 per cent of the total population in the state, which is also home to nearly 22 lakh (1.68 per cent) people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes.
Those belonging to the “unreserved” category, which denotes the proverbial “upper castes” who dominated politics till the Mandal wave of the 1990s comprise 15.52 per cent of the total population.
While talking to reporters, Kumar, however, ducked queries about whether the survey would prove to be “Mandal part 2”, triggering demands for revised quotas for different castes in proportion to their respective population, which may spell trouble for the “Hindutva” juggernaut of the BJP, which is seen as primarily pro-upper caste.
“It would not be proper for me to go into such details right now. Let me share the findings with all parties tomorrow. After that, our focus will be on making policies targeted at castes which may be deemed to be in need of greater assistance. I must add, the survey will benefit all castes, without exception,” he said.
At 3.30 pm tomorrow, the findings of the survey will be made before representatives of all nine parties, which have a presence in state legislature, and which had given the consent for the survey.
Kumar also expressed confidence that the state’s caste survey will provide an impetus for a nationwide census of all social groups.
RJD president Lalu Prasad, also issued a statement, declaring the survey will set the tone for “a nationwide caste census which will be undertaken when we form the next government at the Centre”.
Both Prasad and Kumar have played an instrumental role in the formation of the INDIA coalition, which affirmed its commitment to holding a caste census at a meeting it held in Bengaluru recently.
The Congress on Monday too welcomed the Bihar government’s move to release the findings of a caste census and called upon the Centre to immediately conduct a similar exercise at the national level to ensure social justice and provide a firm foundation for social empowerment programmes.
“Out of 90 secretaries of the central government, only 3 are OBC, who handle only 5 per cent of India’s budget. Therefore, it is important to know the caste statistics of India…,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the UPA government led by the Congress had conducted a census but its results were not published by the Modi government.
That the survey would form part of the politics in the run-up to general elections was made quite clear by other leaders too.
“There was no regular census in 2021, while Bihar has managed to conduct the caste survey this year, it exposes the central government’s incompetence … Muslim population has also been found to be 17.7 per cent (against 16.86 per cent in the 2011 census) which exposes the lie spread by Sanghi propaganda about infiltration by Bangladeshi Muslims,” CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya told PTI.
The survey establishes that the state’s population is overwhelmingly Hindu, with the majority community comprising 81.99 per cent of the total population, followed by Muslims (17.70 per cent).
Christians, Sikhs, Jains and those following other religions as also the non-believers have a minuscule presence, together making up for less than one per cent of the total population.
Bhattacharya also pointed out that the Mandal recommendations for job reservation were based on the 1931 census which had placed the percentage of backwards at 52 per cent, “but we can see the population has gone up since … this means there has to be a fresh thinking on the issue.” The opposition BJP, however, voiced dissatisfaction with the caste survey, stressing that it did not give an idea of the “changed social and economic realities” over the years.
State BJP president Samrat Choudhary said that his party had “given its consent” for the exercise and would make an assessment of the findings which have now been made public.
Sociologists also considered the Survey findings significant. “Ever since the Mandal Commission recommendations came, backward classes have played an important role in Hindi heartland politics … (as) it became an important factor in pushing identity politics as against ideological politics,” said Prof Amites Mukhopadhyay of Jadavpur University to PTI.
Notably, the survey was ordered last year after the Narendra Modi government at the Centre made it clear that it would not be able to undertake a headcount of castes other than SCs and STs as part of the census.
The last time, a headcount of all castes was undertaken, was way back in 1931. Those calling for a fresh caste survey insist that a new estimate was required mainly for the weaker sections of the society which, with improved life expectancy in the post-independence era, must have seen a rise in their proportion of the population.
The state cabinet gave its nod to hold a caste survey on June 2 last year when it also allocated an amount of Rs 500 crore for the mammoth exercise.
The survey briefly ran into rough weather when it was stayed by the Patna High Court which was hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the exercise.
However, the deadline it then set, of February 2023, was overshot and the survey itself could take off no sooner than January 7 this year.
Leaders of the ruling Mahagathbandhan in the state have been alleging that those filing petitions were “BJP supporters”, a charge denied by the saffron party which underscores that it was in the government when the cabinet nod was given for the survey.
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