From the start, the elections to the five Assemblies of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram were not just State polls, but also ways for the BJP at the Centre to test out certain political ideas making the rounds, especially the demand for a caste census by the Congress and other parties in the INDIA grouping.
For the BJP, which has found ways of overcoming the challenges posed by the Mandal politics of the 1990s by consolidating a Hindutva vote bank with non-dominant caste OBCs (Other Backward Classes) with support also from non-Jatav Dalits in Uttar Pradesh, the demand for a caste census can pose several problems. Depending on the survey, demands for more representation in jobs and education will surely arise, upsetting the delicate balance of caste coalitions that the BJP managed to put in place under a Hindutva umbrella and labharthi or beneficiary vote bank. Upper caste anxiety in the face of demands for more reservation by OBC groups will also hurt the BJP as they form an important vote base for the party.
