India, May 1 -- Acknowledging that today's politics has given the idea currency and salience, the Centre has decided that caste enumeration should be included in the forthcoming census. Though it is still not clear when the census, already delayed by four years, is likely, this is an announcement that will have implications for Indian politics and policies. Caste is a major socio-political fault line that influences political alignments and voter choices, and forms the core of affirmative action by the State. The outcome of a caste census is likely to force parties to reset their approach to questions of political representation, and may even reshape the legal stance on reservations, capped at 50% after the Indra Sawhney judgment. Accurate data should help the State fine-tune its affirmative action programmes and make them more effective. The last caste census was held in 1931. Census operations after Independence dropped caste as a category since the then national leadership assumed that enumerating caste could entrench its presence in society and weaken measures to eradicate it. That thought changed over the decades, especially with the spread of social justice politics to northern India, and the implementation of the Mandal Commission's recommendations in the 1990s, which introduced reservations for the OBCs in public education and employment. Nothing exemplifies this shift in the ground than the change in the stance of the Congress and the BJP, which have historically been against caste enumeration. After the 2019 general election debacle, the Congress under Rahul Gandhi became a votary of caste census, which saw its governments in Karnataka and Telangana undertake/publicise the caste surveys they had undertaken. The Congress was also a part of the Mahagathbandhan that carried out a caste survey in 2022-2023, when the latter held office in Patna. As for the BJP, the decision marks a momentous ideological shift; the party, influenced by its mentor RSS, held that caste as an enumerative category only divides Hindus, and thereby the nation. All these arguments remain valid. So, what explains the current shift in strategy? Both the BJP and Congress now recognise that they must address caste as a political category rather than engage with it tactically through patronage. Electoral compulsions and pressure from allies - the Bihar polls are due later this year and caste census will be a headline issue in this epicentre of Mandal politics - may have influenced the BJP to pivot and claim credit for a historic decision that has political implications. It is a gamble of sorts for the BJP since it goes against its ideological grain and the presumed interests of its oldest and most loyal support base. However, this pivot is inescapable for the party as it pursues the idea of a consolidated Hindu society. If played smartly, it may help the party even sweep aside its anti-Mandal legacy and assume ownership of OBC empowerment....