Akhilesh Yadav Mocks Adityanath Over Shift on Caste Census, Calls Out His ‘Divisive’ Rhetoric

New Delhi: “Are you in favour of caste census or do you consider it a threat?” In January, during the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, when an editor of News18 posed this question to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath, the leader responded along predictable lines. Adityanath, whose politics has revolved around the unity of Hindus across castes under the banner of Hindutva, indicated that he felt that caste census was a divisive idea propagated by the opposition parties in order to divide Hindus. 

“Only when under the leadership of Modiji that welfare schemes are moving forward with 'sabka saath sabka vikas', divisive people are trying to divide in the name of caste, region and language. India, especially followers of Santan Dharma, must remain cautious of this,” said Adityanath. 

In the same interview, Adityanath also said that dividing the society in the name of caste, region or language for political interest was “nothing less than treason.”

A short clip of this interview was played by Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav in his press conference in Lucknow on May 2, as he attempted to take advantage of the awkward position the Narendra Modi government’s announcement promising a caste census has put Adityanath in. 

In fact, while Bharatiya Janata Party leaders are rejoicing the Union government’s decision, Adityanath has so far been subdued in his reaction. 

Also read: From ‘Urban Naxal’ to ‘Historic Decision’: BJP's U-Turn on Caste Census

Barring a tweet congratulating Narendra Modi, he has not commented yet on the issue. On the other hand, his deputy and challenger for the chief minister’s post, Keshav Prasad Maurya, is leading the charge in promoting the caste census as a game changer towards wooing the OBCs and Dalits and accusing the Congress-led opposition of neglecting the demand.

Adityanath, with his hardline communal politics and slogan ‘batenge toh katenge’ (if divided, we'll die), had become the face and voice of the saffron party’s politics of uniting the Hindus in the wake of a resurgent opposition that was willing to tackle the caste question head on and made the constitution a rallying point while voting last year in the general elections. This put him in direct opposition to the opposition parties’ campaign demanding a caste census and Adityanath made his disapproval known at several junctures, especially during the Lok Sabha election and state assembly elections that followed it last year.

Adityanath had said that caste census was a ploy to divide Hindus and make castes fight each other so that the Opposition parties could take advantage of their distraction and slip in religion-based quotas for Muslims. At one rally, Adityanath claimed that the caste census was a part of a “conspiracy to loot” Hindus to benefit Muslims. He had even said that those who were trying to divide Hindus on the basis of castes had the DNA of Ravan and Duryodhana in them.

After the Union government announced that it would include caste census in the main census, Adityanath posted on X to congratulate Modi, saying that the “unprecedented and welcome” decision was “in the overall interest of 140 crore countrymen.” 

“This is a decisive initiative towards giving the deprived, backward and neglected classes their proper recognition and fair participation in government schemes. Heartfelt gratitude to the respected Prime Minister, under whose leadership the BJP government has taken this historic decision to transform social justice and data-based good governance into reality,” said Adityanath.

Besides this, Adityanath, who is usually quick to issue video statements when big steps are taken by his party, has largely remained silent on the issue.

In contrast, Maurya, the OBC face of the BJP in UP, who often doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Adityanath, appeared jubilant as he described the decision of caste census as “historic” in media bytes, posts and videos. “PM Modi has made the right arrangement for ‘jiski jitni sankhya bhari, usko utni hissedari’ (greater the numbers, more the representation),” said Maurya, quoting a famous line from Bahujan politics icon Kanshiram.

Maurya said that the caste census was welcomed by the entire Dalit, tribal and backward castes society. “It was awaited for decades. This is also a lesson for those leaders who used to sing the song of caste census a lot, but their parties used to sleep under the blanket on this issue after being in power for decades. Caste is the reality of Indian politics and caste census is its axis,” he said.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav posted a clip of Adityanath’s response to the question on caste census and also played it several times during his press conference on May 2.

“Does the honorable still stand by his statement or would he like to change it,” Yadav said as he teased Adityanath.

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