Akhilesh Yadav has promised that if elected, he will conduct a caste census in Uttar Pradesh. After a tumultuous government by Yogi Adityanath, assembly polls 2022 is going to be a riveting event. There are varying views about BJP and Samajwadi Party; the leaders try their best to interpret the public’s sentiments and cater to them.
On 29 September, Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the BJP led Centre is afraid of conducting caste census as the backward sections may begin demanding their rights.
So let’s get behind these claims to find out whether these are facts or just communalizing fiction by the opposition party.Â
2022 Assembly Polls in UP
The elections will be held in Uttar Pradesh between February and March for 403 members of the legislative assembly. The current assembly’s tenure will end on 14 March, while Yogi Adityanath will be the incumbent Chief Minister.
The main parties competing for power will be BJP with Yogi Adityanath as the leader, Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati headed Bhartiya Samajwadi Party.
BJP had a sweeping victory in the last elections securing 312 seats out of the 403, coming in power after 14 years.
It is interesting to note that no chief minister has been voted back to power after completing the set 5 years in Uttar Pradesh; whether Yogi Adityanath breaks this record is yet to be seen. Though the chief minister is a polarizing figure, he has enjoyed support among voters in the state.
Estimate of BJP in the last five years
This time BJP has a large number of OBC and upper caste voters with them simultaneously. When Yogi Adityanath came to power, there was much noise that UP would see development like never before, and the police would diminish crime.
There had been a head start on it, too, with harsh measures and talks of stringent laws, but not much has changed. The Per capita GDP of Uttar Pradesh has grown by less than 1% in the last four years, while in Mamta’s Bengal, it has increased by 22%.
The opposition has failed to underline these points and is gaining sympathy from the tried and tested casteism hack. Around 20% of voters in Uttar Pradesh belong to the community, and most of them are expected to vote against BJP due to the CM’s open saffron inclination.
The Yadav Community comprising approximately 8% of the population, will vote for the Samajwadi Party and the Jatavs and Chamar Dalits. Still, BJP has a stronghold of the state and is propagating its utopia. It will be difficult for any political party to defeat.
Yadav’s claims and centre’s refusal for Caste census
Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the Centre is not conducting a caste census as it is afraid that the backward sections will demand their rights. “We will ensure that backwards get their rights,” he said.
He tried convincing people that the Centre is on a privatization orgy, so there will be no need to implement reservations.
While he also discussed the rising crime rates of UP and the arrest of Samajwadi party’s veteran leader Azam Khan, the caste census statement struck a chord with the audience. Yadav said that such a census would take around three years or even less with the current technology.
The last caste census in India was conducted in 1931. The union government has submitted an affidavit in the supreme court stating that running SECC, i.e. socio-economic caste census, is infeasible from an administrative perspective.
The testimony was in response to the petition by the Maharashtra government seeking permission from the Centre to collect information on backward classes of citizens of rural India during the enumeration of the 2021 census.
The main reason stated by the union government is that the census collectors are part-time workers with a week-long training; expecting them to tabulate caste data is far fetched consequentially.
Also, the preparatory work for the senses has to be started 3 to 4 years prior. The ideological answer is that the final goal is to move towards a casteless society; a caste census will entrench caste, even more, increasing divisions.Â
It would be unfair to claim that only the Samajwadi party indulges in caste-based politics and that the BJP is following model secularism. Caste, religion and reservations have long been used as crutches to spice up a bland memorandum to appeal to the vote bank.
Now it is left to the citizens of Uttar Pradesh to decide whether they will trust communalism laced speeches by politicians or cautiously observe the work done by both governments before casting their votes.
