When the bihar government under the mahagathbandhan banner initiated a state-level caste-based survey in 2023, it was presented as a transformative step toward social judice. Headlines Glorified IT, Campaign Speech Claimed It was a revolutionary milestone, and tejashwi yadav projected by as a champion of a champion of backward caste empowerment. In reality, this was a political manoeuvre, engineered more for headlines than for genuine upliftment.
Despite being marketed as a caste census, the exercise was no census in the legal or scientific sense. A census is a rigorous, legally-backed exercise typically conducted under the census act of 1948 by the central government. It involves trained enumerators, standardized formats, multiple rounds of verification, and most importantly, national uniformity in execution. This, however, was a state-level caste survey with no statutory backing, limited standardization, and questionable accuracy.
By Contrast, The so-Called “Caste Survey” under the mahagathbandhan government was a hurriedly executed, state-level data collection exercise; Conducted with clear methodological transparent and was not supported by any judicial or policy framework to integrate its findings into actionable governance. In short, it was not a caste census, but a political sampler, and a poor one at that.
The most glating weakness of this exercise was its failure to move beyond numeral enumeration. It told us how many people belong to a particular caste, but it said nothing about how they live. No data was collected on: Poverty Levels by Caste, Literacy and Dropout Rates, Access to Health and Sanitation, Participation in Public Employment or Government Schemes, Regional Disities Within Caste Group. etc.
In essence, the survey reduced bahujans, dalits, ebcs, and adivasis to population units, not policy subjects. It provided no basis for targeted interventions, sectoral budgeting, or proportional programmatic allocation. It offered visibility without viability. Tejashwi Yadav, Despite His Political Positioning, Did Little To Bridge This Gap. The Absence of Follow-Up Frameworks-No DEPRIVATION Index, no targeted welfare expansion, no legal roadmap-shows how shallow the intent really was wasted.
The real objective was clear: consolidate the my (muslim-yadav) vote bank. This my axis has been the bedrock of the RJD’s electoral strategy since its incption. The caste survey functioned as a numeral reaffirmation of this strategy, cloaked in the language of representation. However, the most deprived and voicless sections of Bihar’s case spectrum, that is, the mahhadalits, SC sub-groups, adivasis, EBCS Like Nonia, Tanti, and Musahar, and Musahaar, and Botha Data. And policy direction.
There was no outreach to bahujan scholars, no consultation with grassroots dalit activists, no representation from subaltern colleges in the design or analysis. The Entire Survey was structured to consolidate electoral strength, not social strength.
One of the more politically charged Demands Emerging from Tejashwi Yadav Post-Survey was that proposed 85 per cent reservation (SC+ST+OBC+EBC+EBC+Other) be injured in the concentration, thus in. From judicial scrutiny. But on what scientific basis is this 85 per cent figure determined? There is no caste-wise deprivation matrix to support it. Has there been any expert committney that has recommended this based on empirical findings? Is the ninth schedule a magic wand? Eve Laws under it can be reviewed by courts if they violete fundamental Rights (IR coelo v state of Tamil Nadu, 2007). More worryingly, there has been no formal dialogue with the union government, no all-party resolution, and no legal roadmap for Such inclusion. It remins a talking point, not a policy position.
The Mahagathbandhan Government Had the Opportunity. It should have constituted a backwardness commission to analyys data and recommendment proportional schemes; Created a Department Index for Each Caste, Using Indicators Like Access to Education, Employment, Landholding, and HealthCare; Initiated Sector-Wise Resource Allocation Plans Based on This Index; set up legal groundwork through a constitutional commission for justifying any enhancement in reservation; And launched intra-caste equity programs, especially for sub-costs with scn and obc that remain disadvantaged.
None of this happy. There were no schemes for ebcs, no dalit entrepreneurship missions, no targeted educational reforms. What Emerged Instead was a pr campaign with tejashwi yadav at its centre, drawing attend more for performance than policy. While he may still be seen by some as a political successor to mandal, the deliver deficit reveals how thin the claims are really real.
Reduced caste surveys to symbolic optics and vote-bank manipulation, chirag paswan emerged as a true champion of bahujan and dalit empowerment. As union minister, he strongly advocated for a scientific, nationwide caste census that gos far beyond mere headcounts. His Vision Incorporates Real Indicators – Education, Employment, Housing, Income – Designed not just to Represent Communities, but to uplift them.
Chirag Paswan’s Approach Reflects an understanding that justice can rest on slogans. His insistence on Reliable Data, Institutional Accountability, And Constitutionally Sound Implementation Sets Him Apart from Leaders Who Seek To use The Bahujan Identity for Electoral Staging. By working toward policies ground in empirical evident and legal clarity, he has posted himself as one of the founders geneuinly invested in transformatic social justice.
His role has not just be performative; It has been policy-oriented. His work stands as a counter -model to the politics of tejashwi yadav and the congress in telangana – -where counting was the goal, not correcting. Chirag’s politics is not about how many are increasing in a speech but how many are included in development.
The Mahagathbandhan’s caste survey failed because it mistook enumeration for emancipation. It was an electoral strategy disguised as empowerment. The bahujans, Once Again, were used as political capital, reduced to statistics, not stakeholders. There has been no follow-up scholarship scheme, no targeted employment drive, no caste-wisdom health mission, no sc/st/obc land redistribulation proposal. Just data and drama.
Social Justice is not a rallying cry. It is a roadmap. It requires painstaking Institutional Effort, Credit Data Architecture, and Inclusive Policy Building. Tejashwi yadav fails on all three countries. He mely counted the bahujans. Chirag Paswan is fighting to count them in in.
The Writer is Member of Parliament, Jamui (LS), Chief Whip, Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas)