The Patna High Court has ordered the Nitish government to stop the caste-based survey in the state
Our political masters often grumble about judicial overreach when court orders go against their interests, so it would not be surprising if the functionaries of the Nitish Kumar Government are unhappy over the Patna High Court on Thursday stopping the caste-based survey in the state with immediate effect. So far, however, they have not said anything critical of the HC order. The Mahagathbandhan Government, RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari said, respects the stay put in place by Patna High Court. The court did the right thing by doing so. The division Bench of Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Madhuresh Prasad slammed the state Government for acting irresponsibly regarding the right to privacy: “We also see from the notification issued that the Government intends to share the data with leaders of different parties of the State Assembly.” The State Government began the survey in Bihar on January 7 at a project cost Rs 500 crore. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav has deployed semantic convolutions to justify the action: “Everyone knows it was a caste-based survey, not a caste survey. The caste-based survey aims to benefit the poor of Bihar. Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar are committed to a caste-based survey. Our government will do it. At present, the detailed order of the court is awaited.” The convolutions, however, cannot conceal the fact that the Mahagathbandhan and other parties opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party are veering towards a narrative which promotes caste-oriented politics. This type of politics revolves around caste-based reservations.
The Opposition’s strategy seems to derive a lot of inspiration from history. It is a well-known fact that the Mandal Commission Report over three decades ago had baffled the BJP. The report’s recommendations divided Hindu society, the saffron party’s potential constituency, on caste lines. The party was on the two horns of a dilemma: if it opposed Mandal, it would perpetuate the belief (promoted by anti-BJP leaders and intellectuals) that it represented the interests of the so-called upper castes only; and it supported the recommendations which would hurt the prospects of upper castes, it would displease the core constituents. Lord Ram came to the redemption of the BJP. All this happened long ago; a lot of sewage has flown down the Yamuna since then. The political and ideological progeny of Ram Manohar Lohia are trying to flog the dead horse. Today’s India is not the same as it was in 1990; nor is today’s BJP the party that was under LK Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee; it is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. The Lohiaites should not downplay the facts that the BJP is a much more inclusive party today than it was in 1990 and Modi himself comes from an other backward class or OBC—the social group around which much of Mahagathbandhan politics revolves. History does not and will not repeat itself.