Caste count plank adds new strand to key battle

It’s 11am. Dappled slats of sunlight filtered through flecks of dust and soot warm Kunti Devi’s humble tea shop at the kachha crossroads outside Tundri village. Balancing on her haunches as the winter sun bakes her mottled skin, Devi struggles with the edges of the smudged sheet of yellow tarpaulin that protects her shop from the elements before poring over a woodfire.

- Ritesh Mishra

It’s past work time on a weekday but small clots of young men mill about, sitting on wooden planks propped up by bricks – makeshift benches for daily discussions on chunavi mahaul (election buzz) in Chhattisgarh. As milky tea pass hands in mottled glasses, the discussion meanders from one topic to another – Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the record of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, the competing paddy sops announced by both major parties, the cash transfer pledges for women and the prospect of government jobs for young men in the area.

Then one man mentions the Congress’s repeated refrain on the campaign trail of a nationwide caste census and the tempo abruptly dips. “What’s that,” Devi asks, putting down the dregs of her tea on the table, her villagemen suddenly quiet. “Is it related to getting a new ration card?”

Around the table, a ripple of uncertainty courses through the men who were confidently holding forth on which party’s paddy promise was better a minute ago. Madan Sahu thinks counting castes will be divisive, but changes tack when his friends say the Congress is promising the move. “I don’t know much but I will vote for Congress,” he says. To his left, Murli Sahu is more strident. “There is no benefit of the caste census. It is merely a tool of Congress to win elections,” he says. But why – Manish counters him. Surprised at his friend’s response, Murli’s confidence ebbs. “I don’t know much about it,” he admits.