BJP seniors on Wednesday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “historic decision” to hold a caste-based census, seen as a move by the Hindutva camp to claim the social justice plank with an eye on the Bihar polls later this year.
The decision came as a surprise in the middle of the heightened tensions with Pakistan over the Pahalgam terror attack and also appeared to go against Modi’s repeated attack on the Opposition, accusing it of “spreading poison in society in the name of caste”.
“The Modi government, committed to social justice, has taken a historic decision today,” home minister Amit Shah posted on X. “This decision will empower all economically and socially backward classes, promote inclusion and pave new paths for the progress of the deprived,” he added, accusing the Congress of “opposing caste census for decades”.
Bihar was the first state to conduct a caste survey under chief minister Nitish Kumar in 2023 and press for a similar exercise nationally. Nitish then was part of the RJD-Congress-Left alliance but since then has switched sides and is now a part of the NDA.
Assembly elections are scheduled later this year in backward caste-dominated Bihar, which seems to have prompted the BJP to announce the caste census.
The BJP has for long played a junior partner to Nitish’s JDU in Bihar, but under Modi the party has been eyeing to expand its base beyond its principal upper caste supporters to secure a dominant role.
“This decision is extremely important from the point of view of bringing the economically, socially and educationally backward castes into the mainstream and restoring the dignity of the people who have been deprived of their rights for a long time,” BJP president J.P. Nadda said.
Agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the decision would “lay the foundation for good governance to ensure justice for all sections of society”.