Can caste census spawn ‘majoritarian politics’?

Dalit leader’s views spark a new debate in State

The debate over the caste census took an interesting turn in Tamil Nadu over the week. While the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) led by S. Ramadoss on Wednesday demanded immediate caste count, Dalit intellectual and VCK leader D. Ravikumar opposed the idea in the present circumstance.

Musing on his Facebook wall, Mr. Ravikumar, quoting a 1930 edition of Kudiarasu , said the leader of the Dravidian movement, E.V. Ramasamy (Periyar), had asked the people, especially the non-Brahmins and depressed classes, not to provide details of caste and religion when the enumerators knocked on their doors.

Speaking to

The Hindu, Mr. Ravikumar questioned the rationality and timing of the demand for a caste census given the restrictions that had been placed on the reservation policy by the judiciary.

The former MLA said with the reservations now capped at 50 per cent by the Supreme Court, the campaign that a caste census would pave the way for proportionate representation was flawed.

“The efforts should be towards breaking the reservation ceiling first. Even if we arrive at actual numbers of each caste, the current situation is such that we would only be apportioning the 50 per cent,” he pointed out.

Mr. Ravikumar said without a clear cut assurance on proportionate representation, the caste census would have other detrimental effects. “This will only make vigorous the already prevalent caste majoritarian politics in the State. Some political parties will use the outcome to substantiate the claim that the caste they represent is indeed the majority community and will try to reap the benefits,” he said, in an apparent reference to the PMK.

His views had led to a strong debate on social media. Political and social commentator A. Marx said that Periyar never questioned caste census and the extracts provided by Mr. Ravikumar were only partial. Rather, the social reformer strongly backed proportional representation.

Mr. Marx said Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar had time and again written that as long as caste remained the tool for ascertaining the social position of a person, such a census could not be seen as something that would strengthen caste identity. Given that the VCK had backed the caste census, he said Mr. Ravikumar should express such contrarian views after moving out of the outfit.

50 per cent ceiling

The PMK leader, K. Balu, said the very foundation of the demand for a caste census was to break the 50 per cent ceiling.

“The courts have time and again questioned the numerical rationality behind the reservation numbers. In a 2010 order, the Supreme Court asked the government to ascertain the actual numbers and let the commission concerned to decide on reservation quantity. This means, once we have the numbers, we can enhance the percentage,” he said and dubbed as mischievous the claim that the PMK was demanding caste census for political gains.

“We are demanding for all and not a particular community,” he said.