The Alliance Government announced on April 20, 2025 that the Decade Census would include caste enumerations, which surprised supporters and opponents of the government and the ruling party. Prime Minister Narendra Modi never secretly opposed the idea of a caste census. When Congress leader Rahul Gandhi made it one of his main campaign boards in 2024, Modi saw it as a “urban Naxal plot.” BJP leaders are trying to deflect opposition barbs about nails by sharing videos of the 2010 Lok Sabha debate, in which the party’s deputy parliamentary leader Gopinath Munde can be seen asking the caste census to be conducted along with the 2011 Decade Census.
The BJP’s first mass leader in Maharashtra, Munde, comes from the semi-nominated Van Harry caste, which is concentrated mainly in the central part of the state. His rise was the result of political equations that took place in the early 1990s. Maharashtra is the first state to implement 27% reservations (government work, educational institutions and local agency elections) for other backward classes. A total of 404 communities collectively received 27% of bookings in six subcategories.
When Munde raised requirements for caste census, many OBC communities said their quotas should be proportional to their share of the population, a requirement that continues to this day. A lot has changed over the past decade, and retention politics has become more complicated. Now, Marathas digitally constitutes the largest community in Maharashtra, and he also needs to keep it.
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But it’s an ancient need. Some leaders in the community have called for Marathas’ OBC status for nearly 25 years. But it was in 2023 that demand began to grow and Manoj Jarange Patil had its first match, which would be a series of fastings requiring the reservation of Marasas in the Malatwada region under the OBC category. He said that the marathon from Marathon Wada should be designated as Kunbi, Kunbi, a caste recognized by Maharashtra in OBC.
Marathwada was part of Hyderabad Nizam’s territory before the 1950s. Many older marathoners from Marathwada designate their caste as “Maratha-Kunbi”. Granting the Marathon “Qumbi” status to qualify them for all the benefits OBC is entitled to in Maharashtra.
Patil’s incitement attracted public attention and sympathy as protesters gathered to support his demands and faced charges from police, which were charged by police in September 2023. Patil finds himself bound by opposition leaders, and one of the people who meet him at the protests is Sharad Pawar, a senior Nationalist Congressional Party (NCP) leader. The state government, where Eknath Shinde was chief minister at the time, was forced to apologize and assured Patil that his request would be met soon. In January 2024, the government said it would meet all his requirements. However, complications surrounding demand remained, Patil has regularly resumed fasting over the past few years, under pressure to implement its promises on the government.
Other OBC communities urge quotas that reflect their share of the population, expecting their own interests to erode their own interests, and the marathon gains some reservations. Maratha’s incitement to Kunbi’s identity has spurred OBC leaders, such as Babanrao Taywade, to restore demands for caste census, which they believe will help assert digital strength and drive proportional retention.
Maratha leaders, including Patil, claim that Marathas account for 35% of Maharashtra’s population. In fact, since 2012, three different governments have tried to expand reservations to marathons, providing 16% of reservations, then 12% and last 10%. However, these moves were supported by all political parties and the Supreme Court was violated by 50% reservation. Only caste enumerations that indicate the population distribution of castes across castes may result in a self-capital lift. Therefore, a large portion of marathons support the idea of a census of surnames.
Supporters of Maratha booking activist Manoj Jarange Patil held a protest against the Quimbi certificate for all marathons and various other needs in Pune on February 24, 2024. Image source: Nitin Lawate/ANI
According to the last list of the 1931 census, marathons account for 32% of the state’s population. Dalit, 14%; Muslim, 11.54%; and tribal communities, 9.35%. There are no substantive government documents to support some OBC leaders’ demands that account for 54% of the population based on the 1931 census.
All parties praised the caste census
All parties in Maharashtra welcome the caste census announcement. While a cheerful Congress claimed that this forced the government’s hands to be quick, trying to express its support to the caste census is an older year. Competitors from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde) and NCP (Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar) welcomed the move. Like Patil, Taywade welcomes the decision: “OBC requires a long-term requirement for caste census. We are convinced that the OBC population in India exceeds what is said [52 per cent] Now. ”
Many smaller communities under the OBC category are particularly happy. For decades, castes such as Mali (gardener), Sudon (carpenter) and Nabik (barber) have been demanding a caste census. Atmaram Chavan of Konkan Nabhik Samaj said: “We have faced injustice in the OBC category from the very beginning. After the caste census, the actual number of each caste will stand out. Retention should be based on that.”
But some experts believe that caste census will not affect booking debates. Professor Rajendra Kondhare, one of the leaders of the Maratha community in West Maharashtra, said: “With the reservation to Marathas falling into the Supreme Court, the problem of social backwardness in the community has increased. Only the population is not enough. Only the state government has successfully resolved the marathon reservation.
The chairman of the National Backward Class Committee has retired Justice Sunil Shukre, handing over the backward report of the marathon community to Eknath Shinde, Chief Minister of Maharashtra in Mumbai in February 2024. |Picture source: EKNATH SHINDE/X
But others believe that a comprehensive caste census will help solve the current problem. “The caste census should also collect data on the financial status of families, work information on private and government departments, information on business and its size, and education qualifications for family members. Only such data will help any future actions.”
The caste census can open up many aspects
As of now, the caste census debate is centered on reservation. “It is obvious that the reservation issue has been at the centre of socio-political discussion for the last two or three years. So, all the discussion is around it. But if properly done, the caste census will open many fronts such as the question of a share in natural resources of the country, representation in the private sector including media, and the nature of the judicial system,” said Jaydeo Dole, senior journalist from Chhatrapati Samba Jinagar.
The part that voiced when the caste census was asked to link it to a 50% increase in retention limit. So far, the debate has revolved around quotas for government departments and the possibility of private sector reservations. But political observers believe that the issue of political representation will soon enter debate. Prakash Pawar, professor of political science at Korhapurshivaji University, said: “All castes and sub-sows will be counted. This will give everyone an idea of the exact number of castes. Political parties will restart their strategies based on these numbers. Currently, based on census and subly sumptuous sumptions subpoverly supers of census and consus and consus and consus and census and cassus and cansus cansus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus and cassus.”
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Existing political equations may also change. In Maharashtra, OBC is largely consistent with the BJP. It would be a major achievement for Congress, which has been working to build a support base between the OBCs if it can determine the pressure exerted through the Rahul Gandhi campaign forces the government to declare a caste census.
“Congress will have to come up with plans to connect with OBC groups. They will have to capture the current OBC’s positive attitude towards Rahul Gandhi,” Rahul Gandhi’s OBCs between Rahul Gandhi. ” Lokmatevery day in Nagpur.
The caste census will likely focus castes on elections rather than religion or nationalism. Over the past decade, the BJP has successfully used “religious nationalism” cocktails in elections. “The BJP strives to turn Maharashtra into a new state of Hindu domination. The election success of the 2024 Congress election makes it full of confidence. Now, the narrative on the caste line will return to caste again.
The advantages of caste census may be controversial. But one thing is certain. It will overturn the current political order.
