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Scroll.in
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Savarna voters are angry with the BJP for its caste census – but they have nowhere else to go
For nearly two years, social media activist Anuradha Tiwari has been criticising state governments, including those run by the Bharatiya Janata Party, that pursue social justice policies for the backward castes. But even then, she never thought that the BJP would one day end up endorsing the idea of a caste census. 'Upper castes have been their loyal vote bank,' she said, referring to the fact that the Hindutva party has historically enjoyed the support of communities such as Brahmins, Thakurs and Baniyas. 'If they are going to increase reservations [in educational institutions and government jobs], this is definitely a betrayal. I won't vote for them, for sure.' Tiwari is not alone. The Modi government's sudden announcement on April 30 stating that it would enumerate caste in the next Indian census surprised both its opponents and supporters. Supporters of a caste census contend that members of the Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes have long been undercounted and that affirmative action quotas are smaller than they should be. Scroll spoke to upper-caste activists and Hindutva leaders in four BJP-ruled states to gauge their response to the decision. All of them struggled to explain why the party was making a U-turn on an opposition demand that it has mocked for over a year. Most of them expressed their disappointment in the top BJP leadership for delivering what is, in their view, a major setback to the idea of 'Hindu unity'. But at the end of the day, they also say that upper castes have few political options to the Hindutva party. 'A Mandal moment' Some Hindutva activists questioned the timing of the move and differed with the ruling party on what the government should prioritise at the moment. 'The terrorists in Pahalgam did not ask the tourists about their caste,' a Bajrang Dal member from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh said, requesting anonymity. He was echoing a meme posted by a BJP social medial handle in the wake of the attack, alluding to the fact that the attackers had asked victims for their religion and singled out Hindus. 'I am astonished that the government has announced the caste census at such a time,' his person said. 'The census can be conducted later but first we must fix Pakistan once and for all.' A Vishva Hindu Parishad worker from Haryana, who also spoke on the condition that his name be withheld, went a step further and alleged that the government was diverting public attention from the tourist killings in Pahalgam. 'This is purely political,' he complained. 'People were asking for strong action against Pakistan. To stop that discussion the government has initiated this caste census debate.' Upper-caste community leaders expressed worry that a caste census would invariably bolster demands to increase reservations for backward communities, further shrinking the upper caste-dominated 'general category'. 'The upper-caste anger we saw after Mandal might come out on the streets once again in 2025,' said Raghvendra Singh, national general secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Kshatriya Mahasabha. Tiwari, the social media activist, also decried the caste census for precipitating another 'Mandal moment'. Both were harking back to the fallout of the decision in 1990 of VP Singh, when he was prime minister, to accept the recommendation of the Mandal Commission to create a 27% quota in government jobs for Other Backward Classes in 1990. Upper castes protested against the decision. Some even immolated themselves to express their anger at the recommendation. Thee Mandal Commission report was based on the findings from the 1931 census, the last one to include caste data. This is, perhaps, why upper-caste organisations are apprehensive about another caste census and its potential for inspiring demands for expanded caste quotas. Singh, who lives in Lucknow, contended the move was part of BJP's strategy for the upcoming Bihar elections. 'The BJP is writing its script for power,' he said. 'I believe the caste census will be used to increase reservations so the BJP can retain its hold on power.' Party workers in a soup Other Hindutva supporters also speculated that the decision had been made with an eye on the eastern state. Bihar is known for its social-justice politics and the BJP has never had its own chief minister there. However, party workers in other states said they were confused about why the BJP would risk appearing to be no different from its opponents when it comes to the caste census. 'I can't tell how it will benefit us but I can see the Congress gaining from this because Rahul Gandhi raised this demand,' said a Madhya Pradesh BJP leader, requesting anonymity so be could express his views candidly. 'The BJP has grown because of its focus on Hindus, not caste politics,' this person argued. 'Brahmins, Thakurs, Baniyas, Kayasthas – upper castes on the whole – view us a certain way. This is not what they expect of us. I don't know what the party leadership is thinking.' The BJP politician claimed that in the Vindhya region of Madhya Pradesh, where he lives, the caste census announcement has made Brahmin voters so anxious, they are asking if even senior posts in the military would be filled on the basis of caste. In Rajasthan, BJP worker Suresh Mishra, who heads a Brahmin organisation called Chanakya Sena, said he was receiving mixed responses from supporters after the announcement. Upper castes are concerned that numerically dominant non-Savarna groups such as Jats and Meenas would oust them from positions of power, he said. Something similar had happened during the Mandal agitation in the 1990s, when upper-caste representation in Parliament dipped. Mishra feared the census would exacerbate this. 'It's possible that the caste census would reduce the number of tickets upper castes get,' he told Scroll. As a last resort, he argued that upper castes should not be divided into subcastes but counted as broad varna blocs in the census to counter the numerical heft of other voters. 'Brahmins should remain Brahmins, Vaishyas [Baniyas] should remain that way,' he said. 'They should not be split into subcategories. If Hindus are not divided into different castes, then this will turn out to be a good decision.' Nowhere to go Despite these complaints, most Hindutva organisations have so far refrained from calling for agitations. Part of the reason for this is that they are confident the government will eventually listen to their concerns, said Hindu Sena National President Vishnu Gupta. 'This is, after all, a government of the Hindus so we trust it,' he asserted, citing slogans of Hindu unity by BJP bigwigs such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath. 'We will demand that the government reconsider its decision.' The other reason why the upper castes are not up in arms against the BJP is that they have few other political options that they can turn to, explained political scientist Rahul Verma, a fellow at the Centre for Policy Research In recent years, the Congress party and other opposition outfits have focused their attention on what Verma called the 'bottom half of the pyramid', allowing the BJP to present itself as the sole defender of upper-caste interests. As a result, he suggested, upper-caste anger would eventually have to make way for deal-making with the party. 'The BJP will have to convince them that they still get more from it than anybody else,' he said. 'It is highly unlikely that they will vote against the BJP. But they may become mute during the election, skip campaigning or not turn out to vote.' Singh, the Kshatriya activist from Lucknow, underlined this last possibility as a looming threat for the ruling party. The Kshatriyas of Uttar Pradesh, he claimed, had taught the BJP a lesson by not voting in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. 'It is clear that the upper castes are with the BJP right now because they support the idea of a Hindu rashtra,' he added. 'But if Hindutva leaders start devising caste formulas to capture power, the idea of Hindu rashtra is finished. Why should we vote for the BJP then? Nobody owns our vote.'
Indian Express
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Tapping into ‘Brahmin vs Thakur' narrative, SP takes up the cause of Brahmins in UP
The Samajwadi Party (SP), which registered its best-ever Lok Sabha performance riding on the Pichda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak (PDA) plank, has now set its sights on the Brahmin votes in Uttar Pradesh ahead of next year's Assembly polls, while reviving the 'Thakur versus Brahmin' narrative in the state. As 'evidence' of his party's claims, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday shared what he called data of police postings to show that the state government was 'favouring' Thakurs, the community to which Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath belongs. The SP chief claimed that of the 48 Station House Officers (SHOs) and Station Officers (SOs) – who are usually the first responders to incidents of crimes – under the Agra Commissionerate, only 15 hail from the PDA communities while the remaining were 'Singh bhailog (Thakurs)'. Similarly in his home district of Mainpuri, Akhilesh claimed, 10 of the 15 SHOs/SOs were Thakurs. Also citing data from Mahoba and Prayagraj to argue his case, the SP chief claimed that the PDA communities' share in police posting was only 25% despite their numbers accounting for 90% of the state's population. The allegations drew a sharp retort from Director General of Police (DGP) Prashant Kumar, who on Monday termed the claims as 'baseless and misleading' while urging political leaders not to draw 'hasty conclusions based on inaccurate and incomplete data'. Kumar's retort prompted a counter from Akhilesh. 'DGP sahab should speak less. At the very least, the CM should address this. We have only revealed the condition of a few districts so far,' the SP chief said on Tuesday. Uttar Pradesh BJP president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary too refuted Akhilesh's claims. Alleging that caste-based postings were a thing during the SP's rule, he said the Adityanath government recruits and posts officers in 'accordance with rules and not on the basis of caste'. 'OBCs and members from the Scheduled Caste (SC) communities respectively make up 39% and 18% of police officers posted under the Agra Commissionerate while the numbers are 31% and 19% in Mainpuri,' the UP BJP chief said. As per rough estimates, Thakurs make up around 7% of Uttar Pradesh's population while Brahmins constitute around 10%. Both communities are seen to have played a key role in bringing the BJP to power in the state for two consecutive terms since 2017. The claim of caste bias in police postings is the latest bid by the SP to target the BJP government on its alleged 'anti-Brahmin stand'. One of the matters the party has been raising is that of Harish Mishra, a former Apna Dal (Krishna Patel) leader who moved to the SP some months ago. Mishra, a Brahmin, was allegedly attacked by members of the Karni Sena – which claims to represent Rajput interests – over SP MP Ramji Lal Suman's alleged derogatory statements on Maharana Pratap. Akhilesh has been backing Mishra repeatedly in speeches and posts on X. On Sunday, Akhilesh brought up the recent Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid on the Gorakhpur residence of the late leader Hari Shankar Tiwari – popularly known as Haata – to slam the government. 'Inhe Haata bhi nahi bhata (They can't stand Haata either),' he said. Tiwari used to be viewed as the spearhead of Brahmin politics in eastern Uttar Pradesh, and at loggerheads with the Adityanath-headed Gorakhnath Mutt. Earlier this month, the ED arrested Tiwari's son and SP national secretary Vinay Shankar in connection with an alleged Rs 754 crore bank fraud case. More recently, the SP has also found a cause in the 2018 murder of Apple executive Vivek Tiwari by two policemen in Lucknow. The party has also made veiled references to gangster Vikas Dubey 's death in a police encounter in 2020, and reiterated its claims that the police had beaten one 'Upadhyayji' to death in Basti for providing financial aid to the SP. All three deceased were Brahmins. Last week, the party staged a protest in Lucknow where its workers were seen with placards that read 'Baba ko Haata nahi bhata (Adityanath does not like Haata)' and 'Brahmanon par utpeedan band karo (stop harassment of Brahmins)'. SP spokesperson Abhishek Mishra said Akhilesh has always fought for the rights of the deprived, irrespective of their caste and community. 'He (Akhilesh) is of the opinion that those from the upper castes who are backward educationally, economically and in terms of welfare are also a part of the PDA,' he said. The BJP, on the other hand, has accused the SP of showing solidarity with 'criminals'. 'Whenever the government takes lawful action against any criminal, the SP brings in the caste angle. It sees Yadav in the case of (gangster) Mangesh Yadav and 'bhaichara' in the case of (gangster) Atiq Ahmed's son. A criminal must be just identified with his crime alone. The BJP has gone after criminals without taking their caste into account,' party spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said. However, Brahmin leaders in the BJP admit in private 'disappointment' with the Adityanath government over failure to get 'expected respect and representation'. But, as a BJP leader said, 'Ultimately we are ideological supporters of the BJP. Individual Brahmin leaders of other parties can get a few community votes, but in the interest of the nation, we are largely with the BJP.'
Indian Express
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
‘Misleading': DGP rejects Akhilesh's charge of caste-based police posting
A day after Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav alleged caste discrimination in police posting in Uttar Pradesh and claimed that officers from backward and minority communities were underrepresented in police, particularly at the level of station house officers (SHOs), the state DGP in a sharp reaction rebutted the former CM's statement, calling it 'misleading' and 'rumour'. Stating that those holding responsible posts should stay away from making such misleading comments, DGP Prashant Kumar said: 'Such information is baseless… It is our responsibility to present factual data and maintain public trust. We appeal to all to stay away from rumours and not raise unwarranted questions on the police system.' Referring to the data released by several district police on Monday to counter the claims made by Akhilesh Yadav, the DGP said: '…the concerned districts too have contradicted the same and have released the actual data in this regard. If any such information is circulated in the coming future, they will bring out the truth.' 'The claims being circulated on social media about caste-based postings are baseless… All postings across Uttar Pradesh are being done strictly as per established norms and guidelines,' he added. Speaking to mediapersons in Prayagraj on Sunday, Akhilesh Yadav had given specific numbers of SHOs and their castes in certain districts, alleging most of them belong to Thakur community and that there were negligible number of those belonging to PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak or minorities) in police postings, particularly at the level of station house officers (SHOs). 'In Agra, out of 48 police stations, only 15 SHOs are from the PDA (Backward, Dalit, and Minority) communities. The rest are all from the 'Singh bhai log',' Yadav had said, using a colloquial term to refer to the Thakur community. He had cited similar examples from Mainpuri, Chitrakoot, and Mahoba districts and accused the BJP government of following a 'divide and rule' policy by dividing society along caste and religious lines. On Monday, several district police across the state released statements highlighting caste break-up of policemen. Agra police, in a statement, claimed that 39 per cent of policemen belong to the OBCs, and 18 per cent to the Scheduled Caste, 'while the set standard for the OBC posting is 27 per cent'. Akhilesh, on the other hand, had claimed that out of 48 police stations in Agra, only 15 SHOs belong to PDA communities and the remaining are from the Thakur community. He had also mentioned the districts of Mainpuri, Chitrakoot, and Mahoba. In Mainpuri, Akhilesh had claimed that out of 15, there are 3 SHOs from PDA and 10 Thakurs. Mainpuri police on Monday claimed that there are 31 per cent OBCs and 19 per cent SC policemen posted in the district. Chitrakoot police claimed that out of 12 police stations, three OBC SHOs, two SC/STs and seven belonging to other classes are posted. Prayagraj police said the SHOs are appointed based on devotion to duty, honesty, a sense of social harmony, and sensitivity towards public complaints. The Commissionerate claimed that there are 40 per cent OBC and SC/ST policemen posted as SHOs in Prayagraj. Meanwhile, calling for restraint, DGP Prashant Kumar urged political leaders and the public to avoid drawing hasty conclusions based on incomplete or inaccurate information. However, Akhilesh Yadav on Monday remained steadfast in his statement. In a post on X, he said, '90 per cent PDA has only 25 per cent representation in Prayagraj Police. This is 'proportional injustice' being done to PDA.'
