Caste Census: A Proletarian Perspective
[Editorial Board?Although this article was prepared prior tothe recent declaration of including caste enumeration in the next censusby the Modi Government it is being published as it remains relevant inspite of the said declaration.]
Congress party leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge have been very vocal in demanding a caste-based census, since the beginning of the last Lok Sabha elections campaign. Parties like the Samajwadi Party and RJD, of course, had raised the demand for caste-based census much earlier. This is because such parties have primarily emerged in different states based on the politics of OBC castes. This OBC segment has somewhat benefited through the reservations recommended by the Mandal Commission. Therefore, it is only natural that along with theCongress Party, all these groups would also be very vocal in demanding acaste census. The idea being projected is that their demand issupposedly to establish equal rights for the vast number of neglectedand deprived Dalits and other backward caste people in society. On theother hand, the BJP has made significant progress in uniting varioussections of the Hindu population under its banner of Hindutva politics.That is why they do not want to highlight caste discrimination amongHindus and create further division. However, they also cannot completelydeny the existence of significant caste divisions and oppression insociety. For this reason, even if they do not want to, they are unableto completely ignore the demand for a caste-based census. As a result,their leaders continue to speak in various tones making contradictorystatements. For example, during the last Maharashtra election campaign,Narendra Modi was seen loudly declaring ? ?Ek hai to safe hai?which means --the opposition wants to divide Hindu society, but ?ifeveryone is united, then everyone is safe.? But earlier still, at theend of 2023, in the Bihar Legislative Assembly, they supported theproposal for a caste-based census twice and said that they are notopposed to it. Amid this din centred around caste-census, the questionarises ?how should communist revolutionaries view the issue of such acaste-based census, from the perspective of working-class politics?Should they also advise the oppressed, deprived, Dalit and otherbackward caste people to support the demand for a caste-basedcensus?
What Does Congress Want To Achieve With A Caste-BasedCensus?
Before determining that, it is necessary to first understand thespecific stance of the opposition parties, particularly the most vocalat this moment, the Congress Party, on the demand for a caste-basedcensus. Prior to the last Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi had statedthat if they come to power, " First, we will conduct a caste census...toknow the exact population and status of backward castes, SCs, STs,minorities and other castes. After that, the financial and institutionalsurvey will begin. Subsequently, we will take up the historic assignmentto distribute the wealth of India, jobs and other welfare schemes tothese sections based on their population, [Rahul Gandhi vowssurvey for wealth redistribution, Roushan Ali / TNN / Updated: Apr 7,2024]. Jairam Ramesh also expressed a similar view ? "Thissurvey of caste groups, national assets, and representation ingovernance systems -- collectively called a comprehensive socio-economiccaste census -- is the only solution to ensure an India with equalopportunity for all," [Caste census only way to Ensure EqualOpportunity for All: Congress, India News, Press Trust of India,Updated: March 25, 2024]. But how will they practicallyimplement the welfare schemes, and ensure equal representation ingovernance, and equitable distribution of national wealth? Do theyintend to create further reservations for the oppressed communities?Last August, Rahul Gandhi strongly criticized the Central Government?srecruitment of professionals through lateral entry into various civilservice positions, stating that this practice is depriving Dalit and OBCcandidates of their chances for promotion. In other words, theircriticism was against the cuts in existing reservations. Simultaneously,they have also stated that if they come to power, they will make laws toabolish the 50% cap on reservations, implying that an increase in thepercentage of reservations is part of their plan. [Not 'Mandalvs Kamandal' issue: Rahul says 50% quota cap must go, reiterates demandfor caste census, TNN | Sep 12, 2024]
In addition to the expansion of reservation, Congress leaders alsoappear to be thinking about a variety of relief projects. This isevident from Rahul Gandhi's statement during his visit to America lastSeptember, where he said, "What we are saying is different than the ideaof only reservations. We want to have a comprehensive understanding...first of what's going on, and then we are going to apply a series ofpolicies to correct it... reservation being one of them." [Timesof India, 12-09-24, Not 'Mandal vs Kamandal' issue: Rahul says 50% quotacap must go, reiterates demand for caste census, TNN | Sep 12,2024]. In spite of some such statements of the Congressleaders, it is still fully not clear that what specific steps they planto adopt in the post-census scenario. In reality, what panacea do theywish to bring forth through such plans of theirs is still largelyundisclosed. However, from their statements, at least one thing isevident that in the name of ?jitna abadi utna haq? i.e. as muchpopulation so much rights, they want to extend further caste-basedreservations and relief measures for backward and Dalit communities.
Can Reservations Eliminate Caste-Based Oppression AndDiscrimination?
The system of reservations is not new in this country; it has been inplace for a long time. Through this system, some of the people who havebeen victims of caste-based oppression and discrimination haveundoubtedly found opportunities in government jobs, education, and evenin various elected representative bodies. However, the question remains:Has the implementation of reservations over all these years actuallyended the deprivation of the vast sections of the oppressed castes? Havethey been freed from caste-based oppression and discrimination? A reportfrom the Parliamentary Committee on SC/ST Welfare in 2023 reveals that asignificant portion of the reserved quota for SCs in central governmentpositions remains unfilled every year. Specifically, at higher levels ?out of the 15% reserved posts, only 13.2% are filled by SC candidates.On the other hand, in lower-level Group C jobs, apart from sweepers, SCsoccupy 18.6% of the posts, exceeding their reserved quota. Amongsweepers alone, more than one-third (37%) are from SC communities.[?Creamy layer? snatching job pie? Data shows a chunk of SC/STjobs remain unfilled each year - The Economic Times, 08/08/2024,10:35]
A similar situation exists in the field of higher education. Datafrom a nationwide survey indicates that in the past seven years, thenumber of SC students admitted to higher education has never reached the15% reserved quota for them. [Quota seats for SC, ST students inhigher education remain vacant, OBCs fare better, Kritika Sharma andNikhil Rampal, 19 January, 2019]. Thus, despite the reservationsystem, opportunities could not being fully utilized by the wideroppressed caste communities, except for a small fraction, and this ispreventing significant improvement at various levels of society.
Why Can Reservations Not Eliminate Caste-Based Oppression AndDiscrimination?
The reason is that, for centuries, the oppressed caste communitieshave been kept away from education, various branches of production, andsocio-economic activities. Children from Dalit households havetraditionally been prohibited from studying alongside others in schools.They have been made to live in separate neighbourhoods outside ofvillages, socially isolated. The dirtiest, most polluting jobs are theirhereditary occupations ? thus they have been kept bound for generationsthrough such socially erected caste-based notions of superiority andinferiority. Through repeated humiliation and oppression, a mentalityhas developed among them that they are inferior, sub-human beings. For along time, these practices have been accepted as norms in society. Thosewho tried to break away from these norms have been ostracized orsubjected to even harsher oppression.
Naturally the discriminatory rules of the caste system still existtoday in various forms. As a result, the majority of Dalits remaintrapped in some of the most inhuman and backward hereditary professions,such as cleaning sewers, septic tanks, or skinning dead animals. Eventoday, in the modern era, Dalits and backward castes face numerousobstacles, prohibitions, and humiliations in their daily lives. Theyoften face discrimination and oppression by powerful upper-casteindividuals when trying to access public education or governmentservices. Dalit women are often subjected to abuse, rape, and otherforms of oppression with impunity as if this is the normal custom.
Owing to this long history of caste-based discrimination thesesections have remained in total backwardness to such an extent that inspite of capitalist development today they form a major part of the mosteconomically deprived and exploited sections at the bottom of thesociety. In the agricultural sector, Dalits constitute a large part ofthe poorest and most exploited workforce, such as agriculturallabourers. According to the 2011 Census report, more than 71% of Dalitsare landless or agricultural laborers. Even in other sectors outsideagriculture, a large proportion of workers are involved in unorganized,uncertain, and insecure jobs belong to Dalit communities?84% of them areDalits, compared to 70% of other backward castes (OBCs) and 54% of uppercastes [Employment and Dalit Equation ? Amit Thorat, SukhadeoThorat, The Outlook, 11 February, 2022]. As Dalits occupy thelowest positions in such unorganized jobs, data from the 2012 NSSO showsthat a Dalit worker earns 17% less on an average than a worker from anupper caste. Nationwide, while 21.2% of the total population lives belowthe poverty line, the percentage among Dalits is significantly higher,at 31.1% (according to the 2019 NSSO data).
Being subjected to such discrimination due to caste, the vastmajority of these people have to endure a constant struggle forsurvival. Hence for them, the dream of accessing opportunities througheducation or special skills and benefiting from the reservation systemremains a daydream.
Moreover, even though a small fraction of Dalits and backward casteindividuals manage to reach higher educational institutions like theIITs, IIMs, or prestigious government medical colleges throughreservations, they still face humiliation, discrimination, andexploitation. This often forces them to either quit their studies oreven take the extreme step of suicide. The cases of Rohith Vemula ofHyderabad Central University and Payal Tadvi, a doctor from a Mumbaigovernment hospital, are tragic examples of this. Therefore, it is notsurprising that despite the reservation system being in place for somany years, it has not been able to overcome caste discrimination byensuring equal opportunities or rights in the lives of the vast majorityof Dalits and backward caste communities.
Further, the benefits of reservations are limited to only governmentjobs and education. There are no reservations in the vast privatesector. In the last few decades with the government's liberalizationpolicies resulting in increased privatization and contractual nature ofjobs, opportunities for Dalits in these areas are shrinking. Thus, thereality of years of experience shows that reservations or any otherrelief measures cannot bring about meaningful improvements for theoppressed caste communities, as suggested by the Congress party.
Upper Caste Influence Permeates The RulingSystem
When opposition parties like Congress talk about building "an Indiawith equal opportunity for all," [see earlier--Caste census onlyway to Ensure Equal Opportunity for All: Congress, India News]through reservations and relief measures after coming to power in thecapitalist democratic system, the question arises, what role does theprevailing ruling system play in this? Specifically, what is the role ofthe ruling system towards the Dalits and other backward castes? Afterindependence, when the capitalist democratic system was established, theruling parties, representing the capitalist and landowning classes,stated in the Constitution that reservations would ensure "adequaterepresentation" of backward communities in government positions. Thenthat necessity arose because at the time of independence the rulingsystem was controlled and directed by a few handful of upper caste richpeople. However, today, when Congress and other parties talk about"hissadari nyay" or equal rights for all castes, or the BJP andother parties make a hype of simply a Dalit President or Chief Ministerin order to prove that these backward castes have become equalparticipants within the system, then it becomes evident that all theseyears since independence merely such symbolic, token roles have onlybeen extolled. The reality is, even after 75 years, the Constitutionalpromise of "adequate representation" has not been practicallyrealized.
Rather on the contrary, despite the declared principle of equalrights in this bourgeois democratic system, the reality is that electedleaders, police, and the administration often take the opposite approachwhen it comes to oppressed castes. Amongst many a glaring example is thecase of BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar of Unnao UP, who, despiterepeated complaints by the family of a Dalit girl, was not arrested forthe alleged rape. Instead, the police and government showed extremeinaction and persecuted the family. Another example is the Hathras case,where a Dalit woman was raped and murdered by upper-caste men, or the2016 incident in Gujarat, where four Dalits were stripped and publiclybeaten in Gir-Somnath district for skinning a dead cow. In both cases,the government and the administration showed complete inaction. Orrather these incidents clearly demonstrate the influence of the powerfulupper-caste figures on the state, their connivance and anti-Dalitmentality, which is not possible without the anti-dalit and oppressedcaste bias of the ruling system.
Even though untouchability has been banned in the Constitution longtime ago, incidents of atrocities against Dalits continued. For thatreason a more stringent Prevention of (SC/ST) Atrocities Act was enactedin 1989. But still incidents like Dalits not being allowed to sit at thesame table during weddings, being harassed when passing throughupper-caste areas on horses on occasions of marriage, being humiliatedin schools on drinking water from the same tap, killing a Dalit boy onmarrying an upper-caste girl occur repeatedly. And most of the times,the complaints to the police are suppressed, the upper-caste criminalsescape punishment while the Dalits are harassed and pressurised. How cansuch repeated acts of injustice occur if they don't have the tacitapproval of the state and ruling system? This clearly proves that theruling system, rather than working towards eradicating caste-basedoppression and discrimination, continues to support it. Thus, the veryruling system within which by assuming power in a government, theopposition parties talk about eliminating caste-based oppression anddiscrimination, is itself casteist and discriminatory towards Dalits andother oppressed castes.
What Is The Way Forward To Eliminate Caste Discrimination AndOppression?
Historically, in India, the big bourgeois achieved power bycompromising with the feudal big landlords. Hence it is a matter of nosurprise that they have been able to set up a fragmented stunteddemocratic system. The bourgeois democratic system has been establishedwithout completely abolishing the remnants of the earlier feudal systemfrom top to bottom of the society. Rather, capitalism has developed at aslow pace from above through slow reforms. Consequently, in the ruralareas, in spite of capitalist development the society carries along withit various kinds of remnants of the earlier feudal society. Through thecapitalist reforms from above, the earlier upper caste Zamindars,Talukdars or somewhere Chowdhurys who ruled the roost during older dayscontinue to be a powerful economic strata in the rural economy by theirownership and control of large rice or oil mills or transport andvarious cooperative businesses, utilising capitalist reforms. In someparts of the country a section of middle-caste rich peasants haveemerged becoming a new powerful section in the rural economy. As aresult of this, from panchayat to legislative assembly or parliament aswell as government institutions and its officials continue to be undercontrol of these powerful rich sections. Thereby the upper-castedominance is still significantly in place within the rural economicstructure.
Thus although it is true that the feudal landlord or Zamindari systemhas been abolished through laws, still the upper caste rich people, evenabsentee landlords, own and control their nami andbenami lands and extract surplus to a large extent. From thetime of independence, these powerful sections of the countryside havebeen instrumental in thwarting even the government?s limited landdistribution programmes. They even bypassed and prevented thegovernments from getting hold of their additional swathes of land abovethe Land Ceiling Act in so many ways. For instance during 2008, theBandyopadhyay commission had proposed for land reform to the Governmentof Bihar, which has not implemented by successive governments tilldate.
During the long course of 70-75 years since independence, variousstate governments have enacted laws to allot a small portion of land,sometimes from the most infertile land and cattle grazing land,panchayat?s community land for Dalits. But even that implementation hasencountered several roadblocks due to the hindrance created by the ruralupper-caste elite class, with the help of police and the administration.Even if some plot of land has been allotted, most often it is seized bythese sections. The police, bureaucrats, even the electedrepresentatives stand with these rural rich, vested interests to evictDalits from the common lands. Even for a Green Revolution ledagriculturally forward state like Punjab, the decision according to lawfrom government to hand over one-third of panchayat?s common land toDalits have been blocked as well. Till date organizations of Dalitagricultural labourers like the Zameen Prapti Sangharsh Samiti have beentrying to stage continuous movements so that the legally allocatedportion of the land can be recovered from the grasp of wealthy Jatlandlords or rich peasants.
Naturally the other end of the story is, Dalits and other oppressedcastes masses are still victims of oppression of the upper-caste rich.They are mostly earning their livelihood as agricultural labourers orother rural labourers, generation after generation. Even today many ofthem fall in the debt trap from rich people and are forced to workwithout wages like begar or balutedars, year afteryear. Even though much less in number, a very poor section still becomesbonded labour repeatedly until their debts are settled. All these bearsigns of remnants of earlier feudal society. Although there is anadvancement of capitalism, these sections of labourers are notagricultural proletariat in the real sense, free from extra-economiccoercion. In spite of caste-based hierarchies becoming weaker thesedays, it still determines in a number of ways the economic, social andpolitical landscape of rural India.
As a result, the deprivation, discrimination, and in short, dominanceof the upper castes, along with various remnants of the old feudalsociety, still persists to a significant extent. Caste oppressionpersists in rural India along with the exploitation of the powerfulupper castes. Hence the so called bourgeois democracy could not beestablished in true sense. That is, not only caste discriminationpersists in terms of politics, the political system, law, and in variousaspects of society, as in thought, consciousness, and culture in thesuperstructure of the present society, but also caste discrimination andoppression persists in the economic base through the survival of theremnants of old relations. Therefore, when in the entire system theupper caste rural elites and the owner classes still maintain theirrepresentation among the ruling classes, there should be no doubt thatit is not possible to establish equal rights for the oppressed people byextending any kind of reservation or by providing any relief or reform.Caste discrimination and oppression can only be ended by completelyuprooting the remnants of the old feudal system on which castediscrimination is able to continue. The first and most important step toeradicate the basis of caste discrimination must be taken by adoptingthe path of a radical change like the overthrow of the present system ofrule.
Do Bourgeois Political Parties Want to End CasteDiscrimination and Oppression?
The Congress Party, or various opposition regional parties, which arevocal about the demand for a caste-based census, are neither willing norcapable of taking any revolutionary steps toward such a fundamentalchange. Parties like the Samajwadi Party, RJD, Janata Dal (U), or DMKare all representatives of the dominant intermediate caste (OBC) wealthyrich peasant section that has risen with regional capitalistdevelopment. The Congress Party, at the national level, has always beencomposed of representatives of the large capitalist and the landownerclasses, who have continued to uphold the dominance of the upper castesalong with remnants of the old social order. As a result, thesepolitical forces are tied to this system, and their interests lie inmaintaining it. They speak of providing benefits like reservations andrelief as part of their fight to capture power within the arena ofparliamentary politics.
But why has Rahul Gandhi?s Congress suddenly become so much vocal onthis issue? First, Congress's traditional support base among the uppercastes, Muslims, and Dalits has been steadily eroding over the past fewdecades. The rise of regional parties like the Samajwadi Party, RJD, andDMK, which are based on the support of backward castes (OBC), hasfurther weakened this support base. Moreover, the growing influence ofBJP and the RSS?s Hindutva politics is pushing caste-based politics tothe background and managing to unite various castes under the banner ofHindutva. However, the other side of this reality is also that while theRSS-BJP?s Hindutva agenda advances, their economic and social policies,driven by globalization and liberalization, have increasingly subjectedpoor working-class and toiling people, especially Dalits and otherbackward castes, to rising economic exploitation and social oppression,creating resentment. It is in this context that Congress and otherregional opposition parties find it necessary and opportune time toraise the issue of caste-based discrimination in order to garner thesupport of Dalits and other backward castes for their parliamentarypolitics. Therefore, the issue of a caste-based census has becomeespecially relevant for them.
On the other hand, despite the wide influence of BJP?s Hindutvapolitics, it cannot easily dismiss the demand for a caste-based census.Why? Because doing so would expose BJP?s anti-Dalit stance and createthe fear of losing the support of Dalits and other backward castes. Thenegative experience of the ?Mandal vs. Kamandal? politics, where theMandal Commission's OBC movement challenged the Hindutva agenda duringthe Ram Janambhoomi movement, is something they cannot forget. This iswhy BJP, in trying to increase support among OBCs and Dalits, isnavigating a contradictory stance, maintaining a balance while trying tokeep these sections within its fold under Hindutva.
In the past, in 2010, during the UPA government, when Mulayam SinghYadav?s party raised the demand for a caste-based census across thecountry, the BJP?s OBC section had pressurized the party in its favour.In the end, a meeting between BJP leaders and the RSS concluded thatthere was no harm in conducting a caste-based census for all castes, butintense opposition was raised against the inclusion of OBCs in suchcensus data. [RSS shows BJP the way out on caste census, NeenaVyas, August 05, 2010]. Later we have seen that on one hand,Prime Minister Narendra Modi mocks Congress for demanding a caste-basedcensus, but a few days later, BJP supports the proposal for acaste-based census twice in the Bihar legislative assembly [WhyBJP is afraid of caste census, Smita Gupta, November 8, 2023].In reality, the BJP does not want to lose the support it has gained fromvarious castes. They know that merely with the support and leadership ofthe upper castes, they would be unable to advance with their Hindutvapolitics. This is the reason behind BJP?s various double standards andlies regarding the caste-based census, all aimed at gaining an advantagein the parliamentary power struggle.
Therefore, it is clear that none of these established politicalparties, the representatives of the current undemocratic, oppressivesystem, are genuinely concerned with freeing the oppressed castes fromtheir oppression and discrimination. Their main goal is to capitalize onthe anger of the oppressed castes to succeed in the politics ofcapturing parliamentary power. What else can this be called butout-and-out deception? However, another potential danger of thiscaste-based politics is that it may further exacerbate narrow casteidentity-based movements and electoral politics centered around caste,pulling in the poor, working-class masses into this cycle of casteistpolitics. This is also a cause for concern from the perspective of classstruggle.
What is the Path of Revolutionary Proletariat?
The real question is the ultimate liberation of the vast populationof the oppressed castes from caste-based discrimination and oppression.For this, there is a need for a fundamental transformation of thissocial system. It is necessary to move towards establishing a trulydemocratic system. This path inevitably requires a people's democraticrevolution to overthrow the entire existing system of capitalists,landlords and the rich. Under the leadership of the working class,through the agrarian revolution of the working class, peasants, andtoiling masses, the uprooting of economic base of caste oppression byeliminating the old feudal remnants through radical land reforms is thepath. From this standpoint, revolutionary communists will oppose thepolitics of reforms, such as reservations or relief, within this systemof the wealthy and will highlight the necessity of a revolutionarypath.
Today, in such a highly unfavourable and non-revolutionary situation,where there is no revolutionary class movement of the proletariat, andno organized revolutionary party openly standing against the oppressionin this society and advocating for freedom, why is it crucial forcommunists to raise the need for revolution for the liberation of theoppressed castes instead of demanding reforms like reservations or somekind of relief for them? It has become necessary in order to awaken thelarge masses of the working class and impoverished Dalit oppressedpopulation, to show them what the real path to liberation is. Instead oftailing behind the parties of the wealthy, the capitalists and landlordsfor meagre benefits like reservations and relief, they need to beawakened to the goal of ending this oppression once and for all. But itmust also be remembered that revolution is not only about overthrowingthe oppressive power. It also involves another crucial goal ? throughthe awakening of the power of the people, to create the consciousnessthat they must rise as a single oppressed and exploited class,irrespective of caste, religion, or nationality. Further with theoverthrow of the oppressive system, that class struggle must be carriedforward so that caste discrimination can be eradicated even in thesuperstructure, in the thinking, consciousness, politics, and socialrelations. To achieve this overall goal, the working class must beprepared as the leading class, organized as a class, from today itself.They must take on the responsibility of showing the real path toliberation to the other oppressed caste and toiling masses. The pointmust be raised forcefully that instead of remaining trapped within themaze of piecemeal reforms like caste-based census and reservations,liberation from caste oppression and all forms of exploitation andoppression must be brought through the fundamental transformation ofthis system, through revolution.
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