Congress To Meet On May 2 To Strategize Narrative After BJP’s Caste Census Move

The Congress Party is planning a meeting of its Working Committee on Friday (May 2) to assess Bharatiya Janata Party’s  (BJP) announcement to incorporate caste enumeration in the next census. The Congress party aims to gauge how to “own the narrative” on the issue, The Indian Express reported.

Congress party has long been advocating for caste enumerations to be added to the decadal population census. The Congress Working Committee is supposed to meet at 4 PM on Friday. 

“We want to discuss the road ahead for the party after the government’s announcement. Caste census has been a long-standing demand of the Congress, which is why the government has made this announcement. But we want answers from the government regarding the timeline, budget, and the 50% cap on reservation,” according to The Indian Express’ source.

What did Rahul Gandhi say?

Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi said yesterday that he welcomes the ruling party’s move to include caste in the census, calling it the “first step”.

“We welcome it… We have shown that we can pressure the BJP into doing a caste census. We are going to pressure the BJP into removing the 50% cap (on reservations),” he said, adding that a caste census was “the first step” towards “a new development paradigm,”he said.

He also mentioned that furthermore, the government should end the 50% reservation cap and implement reservation in private educational institutions. He also urged that the BJP government - who was previously opposed to the caste census - should provide a timeline.

Gandhi mentioned that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has adopted “our vision.”

The Indian express reported that with the surprise census announcement has raised concerns within the Congress party, which worries that the BJP has taken away years of work that the opposition spent championing the cause. The Congress party had demanded the caste census to reconnect with the OBCs, a voter base that switched loyalties after the post-Mandal period and voted for Narendra Modi instead in the 2014 elections. 

 Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw while declaring the caste census on Wednesday said that the opposition parties used the caste census as a “political tool”, adding that while the caste census is a centre’s department, some states had done caste enumeration in the name of surveys “non-transparently”, taking a dig at Congress-ruled Karnataka and Telangana, except for Bihar.

Also read Caste Vs Caste for a deeper understanding on the caste classification prevalent in India.