Consensus over Caste-based Census

Consensus over Caste-based Census

Written by

Soroor Ahmed

Published on

August 12, 2022

SOROOR AHMED comments on why we had not been having censuses on caste basis since 1931, and exposes the hollowness of the upper caste argument.

Caste is a reality moulded in India thousands of years ago. While elsewhere in the world there are social divisions in the name of religion, sect, race, tribe, region, nationality, ethnicity, etc., caste is an inherent characteristic of the Indian society.

Though the people the world over tend to discriminate in the name of different social, religious and cultural divisions, yet such practice has no religious sanction. But the case with caste system in India is quite different. It has become a part of Hindu religious philosophy. So notwithstanding so much modernisation and reforms, the Hindus do not feel shy of having caste organisations like Brahmin Samaj and Patel Samaj even in the 21st century United States of America. Caste differences and discrimination cannot be simply wished away so simply.

Yet the Indians tend to adopt a hypocritical approach while dealing with caste. While we all know the number of Blacks and Whites in the US, different tribal groups in Africa, various Christian and Muslim sects in the world, we do not actually know as to how many Brahmins, Kshtriyas, Vaishs or Yadavs live within the boundary of our country. If the caste system has religious approval then what is wrong in having census on its basis?

The only caste census held in India was way back in 1931, but following the pressure from our founding fathers, mostly coming from the Hindu upper castes, there was no such census in post-Independence India. While there was no dearth of Indians who blamed the British for the caste-wise census as they wanted to divide the society further, some academics feel that it was the direct fallout of the widespread work done in the field of Sociology and Anthropology in India in 1920s.

However, it is also a fact that anti-Brahmin movement under Justice Party became strong in 1920s in the then Madras Presidency, and Triveni Sangh, an alliance of Kurmi, Koeri and Yadav, the three prominent castes of North India, grew strong. They were undergoing the process of Sanskritisation and challenging the upper caste monopoly in several arena of the Hindu society.

What is strange is that while we do count the number of Dalits and tribals the country has, we do not want to know the exact figure of upper caste men and women, the other backward castes (OBCs) and the extreme backward castes (EBCs) in our country. We were made to understand that the country or the Hindu society would get disintegrated once the caste break-ups are known to the people.

But how is that the country would not fall to pieces when we know the number of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Dalits, Tribals, etc. and would simply wither away when we know the percentage of different Hindu caste groups?

Not surprising, the elite of the country, mostly upper castes, were more bothered about the integrity of the Hindu society while the backwards often championed the cause of caste-based census. Dalits, under the leadership of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, in 1930-31, even demanded separate electorate against which Gandhiji even sat on fast unto death.
Even today the backward leaders, cutting across the party lines, virtually compelled the government to abandon the fall on pretence of being the champion of integrity.

During the last 80 years we did everything to increase social strife within Hindus. Harijan-hunting is still practised, couples are burnt alive or lynched at the order of the caste-panchayats if they marry cutting the caste barrier, Dalits are not allowed into many temples and backwards are discriminated against in jobs, educational institutions etc. – all this without actually knowing their exact percentage of different groups.

It is not for nothing that on May 5 last that Ananth Kumar of the BJP went on to call Lalu Prasad ‘anti-national’ in the Lok Sabha while the debate on the caste-based census was going on. He did not take back his words even when the senior members of the House asked him to do so. It was left for the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj (of the same party), who had to apologise on his behalf on the following morning.

Caste factor is so strongly ingrained in the mind that even on April 29, 2010 a young lady-journalist of Business Standard, Nirupama Pathak, had to lose her life because her family strongly opposed her move to marry fellow journalist of different upper caste – not backward or Dalit. True, such marriages are opposed in other societies too and honour killing is practised outside India as well, but for that Manusmriti-type scriptures are not quoted.

The backward caste leaders are insisting on caste based census because this would increase the scope of social engineering while the upper castes had been opposing it because it is most likely to expose their minority strength.

We have other double standards. Though we do not allow Census to be done on caste basis yet we have no problem in getting the figure of different castes from various sources, the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) for example. Recently different agencies came out with different figures of OBCs and EBCs in our country.
We constituted Kelkar Commission and Mandal Commission to know the status of the backwards. Similarly many state governments constituted such Commissions to know the economic, educational and social status of different caste groups. They recommended reservation to the OBCs on the basis of the 1931 Census.

So if the Centre has reluctantly agreed to the pressure from the backward caste leaders from within and outside, especially the Yadav triumvirate of Lalu, Mulayam and Sharad, it is another milestone for the latter. The hollowness of the upper caste argument stands exposed – once again.