Census Sets OBC Politics Astir

In Maharashtra, old foes join hands across an ideological divide to make the most of a chance to consolidate Other Backward Caste votes.

Recently, when Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal shared a dais with the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde, no one seemed to think it had any significance. Bhujbal is a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Munde of the ideologically opposed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but so what? After all, both once had their time in the sun and were now trying to find a place for themselves in the thickening shadows they are being slowly pushed into by their parties.

They spoke on a medley of issues to a bored audience comprising representatives of the All India Muslim OBC Organisation. Then dropped the bombshell. Munde declared loud and clear that he was willing to work under the leadership of Bhujbal for the benefit of OBCs (other backward castes). Ears perked up, there was a visible shift in the audience, and thunderous applause followed. 

The surprise declaration was also an indication that OBCs, having dominated North Indian politics for almost two decades, are now rearing to reshape Maharashtrian politics. In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, OBC assertion involved the overthrow of upper caste power. In Maharashtra too, an OBC buildup, though still nascent, could change things. It is not good news for the big parties, for sure, led as they are in the state by the relatively dominant Marathas.

Already, the BJP and NCP have experienced a churn in their social base. At the BJP’s National Executive meeting at Indore in February this year, Munde had proposed that the party focus on OBCs, who have shown signs of fatigue in their support for the Yadav duo (Lalu and Mulayam) in the north and are fragmented voters elsewhere, as a way to counter the Congress’ grab for its old social coalition of upper castes, Muslims and Dalits. Meanwhile, the weakening of the NCP chief Sharad Pawar, a Maratha, has given Bhujbal ambitions of hewing out an alternative OBC plank and asserting his independence. He was a Shiv Sainik once, before he defected to the Congress and later the NCP. 

The Bhujbal-Munde chumminess is not the first time caste calculations have overridden ideology. In UP, Mulayam Singh Yadav struck an alliance with fellow OBC leader Kalyan Singh, a bitter ideological foe of the 1990s, on the eve of the last Lok Sabha election. Now Maharashtra seems ready for a similar consolidation, leaving the NCP and BJP piqued. Note the confusion in their ranks over whether to support a caste count in the ongoing census. Bhujbal and Munde have been vocal in their endorsement of such a count. “The OBC count must be included in the new census. There is strong opposition to this because many people fear that OBCs will come together if they know their true strength,” reasoned Munde. “There is a need for an OBC census. Cattle, fowl and other animals will be counted, but OBCs will not be? If the OBCs decide to boycott the census, whom will they count?” chimed in Bhujbal, according to whom OBCs make up 54 per cent of India’s population through roughly 340 castes.

Tough words, those. But the top leaderships of the BJP and NCP are not so sure. The BJP, for example, has made some noises against a caste count ever since the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) voiced its opposition to it in the interests of a ‘casteless society’. Also, taking a swipe at Bhujbal’s stance, Pawar’s daughter and NCP Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule has had this to say recently in Pune: “It is not appropriate if the motivation is caste based. Such a census will only lead to more discrimination. I do not know the stand of my party, but when we are opting for a new openness, how appropriate is it for people to reveal information about their castes?” 

If Munde and Bhujbal have taken heed, they aren’t doing much to show it. The OBC opportunity, say observers, is big enough for them to consider going their own way. In 1992, Bhujbal had even formed an OBC front, the Mahatma Phule Samata Parishad, the support base of which has helped him gain his current stature in the NCP and state government. As for Munde, the death of his brother-in-law Pramod Mahajan left him bereft of backing within the BJP, with some seeing him getting shafted by the BJP chief Nitin Gadkari. Munde is said to be unhappy with being shunted out of Maharashtra politics for a Lok Sabha role.

Like Bhujbal, Munde prides himself in his oratory skills, though the former’s organisational experience is what they both need to get their OBC movement going. As of now, no single party in the state can claim a majority chunk of the OBC vote. If caste consciousness goes up, that could be a possibility. According to sources, the two could even find support from OBC leaders in the north, perhaps even Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, who is keen to strike ballot success with Dalits in Maharashtra. 

Interestingly, the Munde-Bhujbal dais show came just a week after he regretted his decision to join the Jan Sangh during the Emergency. “Perhaps I should have gone back to the RSS,” he had said, “I could have done many other things. But it’s too late now. You can enter the BJP, but there is no exit route.”

Is there none? Observers think he is canny enough to find one, even as the caste issue heats up. The RSS ideologue MG Vaidya has categorically demanded that the BJP clarify its stand on the matter. ‘Munde is the deputy leader in the Lok Sabha and supports the OBC census. It is not a particular community but a cluster of communities that is demanding inclusion in the census. The paramount question is that should Munde’s stance be taken as the original party line,’ Vaidya wrote in his weekly column in the Marathi daily Tarun Bharat.

Just rallying disparate castes together seems like a daunting challenge for Munde and Bhujbal right now, but grouped identity labels have their own way of shifting perceptions. As far as reservations go, accurate OBC numbers are only of academic value in the debate. But politically, these figures could be explosive. The Congress, NCP, BJP and Shiv Sena know that an OBC assertion can reshape power dynamics in Maharashtra. Bhujbal and Munde think they know what they’re doing. The same can’t be said of their current parties, though.

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