Lead, Don't Be Led By Divisive Agendas

I write to you as a colleague MP rather than the junior Minister in the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is going to carry out census operations through RGI. This is with regards to the ongoing discourse about inclusion of Caste, specifically OBCs as an identity parameter in the ongoing Census exercise.

It may be acknowledged and appreciated that we as the younger lot, have to practice politics and governance for at least, the next 15-20 years. Accordingly it is on our shoulders, that the responsibility of identifying and establishing the National Political Agenda for Governance for the next decades lies the most.

The Core political ideology adopted by our founding fathers, subsequent statesmen at the helm of affairs, as indeed our respective political parties was that of development as the most important, if not the sole means of achieving social, economic and political justice. Be it Mahatma Gandhi, Pt. Nehru, Sardar Patel, Dr. Lohia, Indiraji, Rajivji or Atalji, the goal was economic betterment, political empowerment and Social Justice to be achieved through inclusive development-- indeed Caste count in Census was never advocated by either of them, least by Dr. Lohia whose most famous quote remains "Jaat Naa puchho sadhu ki.....[ Don't ask the casye of the holy men]"

The last decade saw development and good governance, rather than caste or community being mandated by people across elections in different states. After a long time we could see a pro-incumbency rather than the anti-incumbency votes.

If we were to accept the proposal to accept caste as a parameter in the Census, we would, for at least the next 10-20 years institutionalize Caste rather than Development as the National Political Agenda.

I enumerate below a fallout of Caste based Census, which could be the National Political Agenda for the next two to three decades:

• A demand from each and every section/ caste/ community to be recognized and enumerated as OBCs, since being recognized so entails benefits. A case in point could be the 1947 partition Punjabi or Bengali refugees (a community to which even I belong and represent) who would insist to be included in this privileged list by drawing parallels with Badi (Nepali), Damai(Nepali) and their descendents (listed OBCs living in Manipur as members of domiciled communities since July 9, 1947), the "Baniyas" in Bihar and "Destitutes" in Tamil Nadu.
   
• Proportional representation in jobs and the legislatures for all such castes which claim and somehow manage to get into the list of "Other Backward Castes".
   
• Proportional allocation of resources for OBC categories, which would always be perceived to be unfulfilled as in the case of SC and ST groups.
   
• Moreover, why many Castes already listed as OBCs wouldn't claim to be most backward and extremely backward sand demand special dispensation as MBCs and EBCs. The system is already in place in Bihar where MBCs and EBCs are recognized and given specific reservation benefits. An attempt in UP to this effect by the Rajnath Singh Government was however stopped by the High Court.
   
• The Central list of OBCs is a common list of Castes enumerated in the list of all States and Castes mentioned in the Mandal Commission Report. Augmented by incorporating 729 other castes as suggested by the National Commission for Backward Classes till March 31, 2008, this list contains around 6000 Castes. Barring the last additions made by the Commission, in case of the other Castes in the list, no credible exercise has been undertaken to justify the inclusion of any Caste in this OBC list. Accordingly, any fresh demands by the left out castes would and should entail thorough scrutiny of the entire list all over again.

Since its inception, in past 15 years, the National Commission on Backward Classes have received and disposed off 1184 castes requests for inclusion. With the legacy of my party and my forefathers, who were freedom fighters lying heavy on my shoulders, I shudder to think as to what would I do if, in a politically surcharged atmosphere, my community demands of me to stand up and ask for an OBC status for them.

As young conscience driven individuals we have served the people and thrived politically on the all inclusive development agenda. Even in politically surcharged times of Mandal and Mandir politics we swore by and took people along this agenda of development sans Caste and Community. After having been vindicated by a decisive mandate for this agenda as late as last year, a regression into the realm of Caste being the political agenda for the next decades will not only be disastrous for political practitioners like me, but will be detrimental for the all parties with a developmental agenda, as well as the Country in general.   

We are people's representatives mandated by them to practice politics in the realm of development aimed to benefit them.  Let us implement our mandate and lead, rather than being led by divisive agendas for short term political gain.

Ajay Maken