The Nair Service Society (NSS) has frowned at the Congress call to conduct a caste census.
NSS general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair said at Perunna on Tuesday that vote bank politics motivated the growing chorus for an updated caste census. Mr. Nair, however, stopped short of calling out any particular party or alliance.
According to him, governments are duty bound to take all those staying backward in terms of education, social status and employment to the mainstream irrespective of their caste and creed. “Caste-based reservation is a key driver of the savarna-avarna culture that cultivates rivalry between castes which enjoy the benefits of reservation and those who are not.’’
While the creamy layer among backward communities continued to enjoy all benefits of reservation, the economically and socially backward among forward castes stood to loose from it, added Mr. Nair.
The Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) scrambled to read the political tea leaves in the NSS’ stance, given the looming Lok Sabha elections.
Congress’ aspirations to improve its standing among the backward classes has informed its call for a caste census. The party has the backing of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal. In contrast, by citing the income criteria, the CPI(M) in Kerala moved to bring the economically weaker sections among the forward castes under the reservation net.
The NSS, a powerful social organisation representing a crucial forward caste voting bloc in Kerala, said the creamy layer among the backward classes hijacked the benefits of caste-based affirmative action. The privileged section has, at a stoke, pushed the truly backward section of society to further social regression and denied affirmative action for the economically poor among the forward castes. Political parties batting for caste-based reservation and demanding a caste census were sacrificing social progress and unity at the altar of political expediency.. The clarion call for caste reservation and caste census was a threat to the country’s unity.
Mr. Nair said the Supreme Court ruled that caste-based reservation violated Article 15(1) of the Constitution. However, successive governments had bypassed the ruling for political expediency. The Constitution did not associate social and economic backwardness with caste. Nevertheless, vote bank politics compelled political parties to swear by caste-based reservation and ignore the stark economic realities that cause backwardness.
Mr. Nair said caste-based reservation has eclipsed merit criterion in higher education and government employment. The move would spawn a savarna versus avarna culture fuelled by intense social enmity. He called for alternative politics to unite the nation instead of dividing it into feuding castes.
