November 11 marked a big shift for the Bharatiya Janata Party in terms of its principled stance on caste politics. The ruling party at the Centre made a leap of faith, virtually endorsing Rahul Gandhi’s idea of “jitni abadi, utna haq“, albeit in a broader context.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally on 11 November, organised by the Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS) at Secunderabad in Hyderabad. Since 1994, MRPS, headed by Manda Krishna Madiga, has been agitating for the sub-categorisation of the Scheduled Castes (SC) to ensure that Madigas get a fair share of reservation benefits in jobs and education. Their grouse has been that the Malas, who are numerically smaller, end up cornering a larger share of the SC reservation pie. There is a 15 per cent reservation for SCs in Telangana.
“The BJP understands the injustice meted out to the Madiga community…. We are committed to ending this injustice as soon as possible…. We will set up a committee soon to enable your empowerment in every way. You and I know that a big judicial process is on in the Supreme Court. I consider your fight a fight for justice. The Constitution Babasaheb Ambedkar gave has entrusted the responsibility of justice to me,” Modi said.
Modi told them that it was an “injustice” to the Madigas that they were not getting reservation benefits proportionate to their population. Referring to the pending case in the Supreme Court, Modi suggested that, according to the Constitution, he, as the head of the elected government, was entrusted with ensuring justice. Therefore, he would set up a committee to empower the Madigas to ensure better reservation benefits. “Krishna, aapko bahut saathi mile hain ladne ke liye, aaj ek saathi aur jod do (Krishna, you have got many supporters to fight, add one more today,” said the Prime Minister to the MRPS chief, endorsing his fight for better reservation benefits.
Before we come to what Modi’s remarks mean for national politics, let’s briefly discuss why he said what he said.
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BJP politics in Telangana
Backward classes constitute more than 50 per cent of Telangana’s population. The BJP has promised a chief minister from the community if it comes to power in the southern state. From Bandi Sanjay Kumar, the deposed state BJP chief, to Etela Rajender, a defector of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and a detractor of Bandi, and K Laxman, a member of the BJP Parliamentary Board—most of the top BJP leaders in Telangana belong to the OBC community. It’s another matter that the party replaced an OBC leader, Bandi Sanjay, with G Kishan Reddy, an upper caste, as the state BJP chief in July.
Telangana was part of Andhra Pradesh during the 2011 census, which pegged the SC population at around 16 per cent in the undivided state. Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has, however, said that the SC population in Telangana constituted 17.53 per cent of the population as per a comprehensive household survey done in 2015. Therefore, he demanded that the reservation quota for the SCs should be revised.
The Madigas are estimated to constitute around 60 per cent of the SCs in Telangana, and that’s why the BJP is making this pitch for the BCs and the Madigas. The Congress has been accusing the BJP of being hand in glove with the BRS—citing replacement of fiery Bandi Sanjay with malleable Reddy and alleging that central investigation agencies are going soft on KCR’s daughter and Member of Legislative Council, K Kavitha, in the alleged Delhi excise scam.
There has also been speculation that Modi would like KCR, who largely supported the BJP government in Parliament, to be on the right side in case the BJP needed allies after the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The fact, however, is that the BRS can’t afford to be seen as a BJP ally in a state where Muslims are estimated to swing results in about 40 out of total 119 assembly seats.
However, politicians across the ideological spectrum and analysts in Telangana have been of the view that the BJP has gone soft on BRS just to keep the Congress out. There is massive anti-incumbency against the KCR-led government, despite a host of freebies it has been offering to different sections of the state’s population, and the BJP wouldn’t like the Congress to benefit out of it.
Putting conspiracy theories aside, BJP leaders tell me that regardless of the “media-created perception” about the BJP becoming the BRS’ challenger, it was never the case. “We are, however, confident that we will increase our vote share to 15 per cent (from seven per cent in 2018 assembly polls). You will see surprising results in 2024 general elections (In 2019, the BJP secured 4 out of 17 Lok Sabha seats with over 19 per cent voteshare) ,”a senior BJP functionary told me. That’s about it. Modi’s pitch for increased representation of the Madigas may or may not help the BJP in the upcoming assembly election but the party is expecting better dividends in the next Lok Sabha election.
Modi’s SC gambit in Telangana
By promising a committee to look into the Madigas’ demand for reservation benefits based on their numerical strength to “end injustice”, Modi has lent credence to the idea of reservation in proportion to the population—and, by extension, the caste census. The essential political idea behind the caste census is the numerical basis for reservation benefits and the allocation of resources. Modi had earlier ridiculed Gandhi’s “jitni abadi, utna haq” slogan, saying that it seemed to suggest that the Congress leader wanted to reduce the rights of minorities.
Gandhi has gone silent with the slogan since then, although he has kept up the demand for a national caste census. Modi accused the Opposition parties of committing the “sin” of dividing the country in the name of caste.
Incidentally, it’s the BJP that seems to be revising its stance on the caste census now.
In 2018, then Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had decided to enumerate OBCs in 2021 census. The decision was made public through an official press release. “It is envisaged to collect data on OBCs for the first time,” said the press release of the Ministry of Home Affairs on August 31 2018. It came a year after the Centre set up the Rohini Commission for sub-categorisation of the OBCs to ensure a more equitable distribution of reservation benefits.
However, the government changed its stance later. It refused to conduct a caste census as a matter of policy, even as Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel, a member of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), continued to remind the government of its old promise.
It was around this time that Modi started castigating the Opposition parties for “dividing India on caste lines” by talking about caste census. The party seems to be changing its stance again. Speaking to the press at the launch of the BJP’s manifesto in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, Home Minister Amit Shah declared that his party was never opposed to caste census and such decisions have to be taken after “careful thought” at an appropriate time.
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BJP’s caste trap
The BJP’s and Modi’s u-turn on the ‘jitni abadi, utna haq’ and the caste census suggests uncertainty and self-doubt. The ruling party seems to be struggling to come out with a cogent view on reservation politics. By supporting the Madigas’ demand, Modi has also put himself in a twist when it comes of OBC sub-categorisation.
After 13 extensions, the Rohini Commission, which was supposed to submit the report in January 2018, finally submitted its report in August this year.
The Opposition seems to be unmindful of it so far. But by lending his weight behind the Madigas, Modi has exposed himself to questions about the implementation of the Rohini Commission report and the need for a national caste census. He can’t call it a ‘sin’ any more.
DK Singh is Political Editor at ThePrint. Views are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)