Amidst the Pahalgam crisis, the caste census has made a rather sedate entry into India’s body politic. The whole country has been busy playing the guessing game as to when and how the Modi government is going to teach Pakistan a lesson. In this cacophony of ultra-nationalism, the caste census must be feeling lost and orphaned, because, except for a day or two in between, no TV channel has risked leaving nationalism, taking the debate around Mandal politics forward. But the reality is that this one policy decision by the Modi government has the potential to change the entire politics of the country. It has the potential to blunt the Hindutva narrative, and the politics of social justice can be the flavour of future India. It is in this context that a legitimate question should be asked: who and which party will be the real beneficiary of the caste census politics? Will the BJP electorally gain by this decision of the government, or will the Congress, whose leader Rahul Gandhi has been vociferously demanding that caste censure should be done, reap the benefit? Or original parties of Mandal politics, like the Samajwadi Party, RJD, JD (U) and others, will outmanoeuvre national parties?

It’s a matter of common knowledge that the BJP and its government have been opposed to the caste census. In fact, the government had informed the Supreme Court a few years back that it had taken a policy decision not to go for a caste census. The Prime Minister was so upset with Nitish........

© Free Press Journal