After years of mocking caste-based politics and refusing a national caste census, the BJP has now graciously decided to steal the Congress’s thunder — and possibly its main election pitch. In a move that’s as opportunistic as it is strategic, the Modi government suddenly remembered that caste exists in India and announced it will now conduct a long-overdue caste enumeration. Rahul Gandhi, who has been championing this cause for two years, might want to thank them — or just curse under his breath.
For the Congress, this is a textbook case of “right idea, wrong timing.” The party spent months pushing caste census as a central plank to win back the OBCs, hoping to unearth the glaring inequalities in representation and wealth. And just as it looked like that message was gaining traction, the BJP swoops in, snatches the idea, rebrands it, and throws in a swipe about how Congress never did this since Independence.
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, with the usual BJP flair for projection, accused opposition parties of playing politics with caste — while conveniently ignoring the fact that his own party is now doing the exact same thing, just closer to the elections. Caught in this masterstroke of political one-upmanship, Congress is now trying to spin it as a “victory.” Rahul Gandhi claimed the BJP has “adopted our vision” and that it proves the Congress can “pressure” the government into doing the right thing. Cute. Unfortunately, the applause might come a little too late — and the credit definitely won’t.
The Prime Minister, who once reduced the entire country to “four castes” in a speech, has now seen the light. Not because of any newfound love for social justice — but perhaps because caste arithmetic has finally started to look like election math. Gandhi, never one to pass up an “I told you so,” asked for details: the timeline, funding, and whether the data will be used to design actual development plans. He also praised Telangana’s survey as the model to follow, not Bihar’s — a subtle jab at his own party’s indecisive handling of the Karnataka caste survey, which remains in political limbo since 2015.
He didn’t stop there. Calling for an end to the 50% cap on reservations and implementation of Article 15(5) (reservations in private education), Gandhi made it clear he’s not handing over the narrative just yet. The message: if the BJP thinks announcing a caste census wins the game, they haven’t seen the second half. Still, the momentum has clearly shifted. The Congress’s “jitni aabadi, utna haq” slogan now echoes from the mouths of BJP leaders who, not long ago, dismissed such demands as divisive. Rahul Gandhi may have launched the debate, but Modi might get the credit for delivering — is that the attempted masterstoke?
With inputs from agencies
Image Source: Multiple agencies
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