B L Saraf
It was in January,1979 that the then Prime Minister , Morarji Dessai, working under the influence of his socialist and the Lohiate partners in the Coalition Government , instituted a Commission known as Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission (SEBC) – with a term of reference to suggest ways and means for empowering people belonging to the educational and economically backward sections of the society. BP Mandal then a member of parliament from Bihar chaired the commission thus, immortally , lending a prefix Mandal to it. The Commission submitted a report in 1980 which remained dormant till August 1990 when the Ex Prime Minister VP Singh, for the reasons well known , dusted it out of the cold storage and announced it implementation .
A hell broke out in the aftermath of the announcement. Thousands of the students, apprehending shrinking of space for the merit based jobs and denial of opportunity to the higher education came on the roads against the policy and dozens of them went to the extreme of self -immolation. Rest as they say is the history. Many reasons were given to explain why VP Singh decided to announce the implementation of the report a decade after it was submitted and when Prime Minters like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were reluctant to do so . One has to recall the period when it happened in 1990. LK Advani had started his Ayodhya Rath Yatra towards the end of 1989, in a bid to garner public support for construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya which a devout within the Hindu community consider as Janam Sthan- birth place of Lord Rama. However, observers considered the Yatra, primarily, an attempt to mobilize public for the BJP and, collaterally, for the cause that was ostensibly set out to be. As events latter on showed, VP Singh released the Mandal genie to check mate L K Advani on one hand and, on the other, save his political fortune .
On the 2nd October Bihar Government released the data for caste based survey, known as Bihar Jaati Adharit Ganana . We are told that a caste based census would provide accurate and up to date data on the distribution and socio – economic status of various castes and communalities in India. Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar – author of the caste census – and other votaries of the move argued that the data is essential for evidence based policy formulation and implementation. “It can help policy makers identify marginalized and disadvantageous groups and design targeted intervention to uplift them.” Knowledgeable observers, however, regard caste census move as an attempt by Nitish Kumar to snatch initiative from the Prime Minister and position himself as an alternative if ever Narendra Modi is or made to relinquish power .
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seems to have taken a plunge into the caste politics by promising caste based survey across country and has coined slogan ” Jitni abadi utna haq ” (right commensurate to the numbers ). He is going to the poll bound areas of MP , Rajasthan etc raising the slogan .It will be better for him and the Congress party not to go for a tight rope walk , oscillating between soft Hidutva and the new found love for the caste based rhetoric . Rahul Gadhi should be aware that pushing for caste census at the national level is fraught with a possibility that would trigger a demand from the individual caste groups for separate reservations and then there will be no end to the reservation claims. The more he pushes for caste considerations the more BJP is likely to retaliate it with the identity hammer. It will be really unfortunate if the country is to witness a rewind of 1990s when the battle lines got drawn on the caste and communal lines between VP Singh and L K Advani which pushed countrymen to the two extremes ,resulting into the deepening of caste and communal fissures. A cynic would then – in a satirical vein – call the battle a one between Mandal and the Kamandal.
It was the British colonial administration which introduced caste wise census in 1881 and continued it till 1931 census. After independence the practice of full caste census was given up on the argument that it would strengthen the caste divisions and perpetuate caste system.
A caste based census has been a subject of debate and controversy. Some saying that it is necessary to remove historical injustices and promote social justice, while as others argue that it could perpetuate the caste division. We are not here to say anything on the subject which may cut either way. Limited point of concern is that the debate should not drive existing social cleavages wider and deeper.
There can be no denying that political and economic empowerment is critical for securing rights for the backward classes and efforts should continue in this direction . At the same time , irony shouldn’t be lost that even after seeing how the caste politics nearly tore country asunder in 1990 it is staging a re -entry to the political discourse of the country. Supreme Court, then, in Indira Sawhny’s case brought some sanity to the situation by capping caste based reservation at 50 %.Though in subsequent cases of TN and Karnataka the Court increased the capping limit. An apprehension is looming large that soon there will be a clamour for removing the upper limit for the caste based reservation. How will the merit holding unreserved classes react to the situation , if that is to happen, one has to keep fingers crossed ?
There is a nationwide renewed attempt to emphasize importance of Sanatan Dharma as the core of an equitable way of a human life. It is true caste prejudices still persist in our society to negate the core. There are many among us who still believe that the institution of caste has a divine sanction. Though on a decline, yet there is an imperative need to change this mindset lock, stock and barrel. The caste question has as much a psychological and social dimension as it has political and economic one. Spiritual leaders must come forward to address the former while as state has to act in case of the latter .We may recall that in 1960s quite a number of Hindu religious men came together to emphasize the idea of equality among people as an important ingredient of the Sanatan Dharma , so as to rid the society of the evil of untouchablity. Today, is time to renew the effort -both at the religious and political fronts, rather than re -bottle the caste issue anew and use it as a short cut to gain political power. Raising an identity counter to the caste issue will be no wisdom. Let the nation be spared of Mandal versus Kamandal Part -2 scenario.
(The author is former Principal District & Sessions Judge)
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