00:00One of the big takeaways from 2023's assembly elections is how the OBC card failed for the
00:09Congress and the opposition. Now, the demand for a caste census by the opposition was being
00:14seen as a possible game changer for the 2024 general election. But we've actually seen
00:20OBCs or other backward castes vote in large numbers with the BJP instead, which has also
00:25kept its upper caste vote base intact. This is important because what analysts are pointing
00:30out is that it's not enough for the Congress to just demand a caste census. You actually
00:35have to go out with a message to people telling them what you're going to do with those numbers,
00:40how you're going to give people jobs or reservations in educational institutions,
00:45basically give them a roadmap of what you're going to do. The BJP has been successfully wooing
00:51other backward castes for nearly a decade now. The fact that the prime minister is from the
00:55OBC community is something that the BJP constantly highlights. And even though its
00:59traditional support base has been upper castes and has been the middle class, the party has
01:04consciously wooed OBC votes now for several years, and they have succeeded. For the Congress,
01:10the problem is that they seem to have given up on the upper caste votes altogether and are
01:15concentrating more on the OBCs, on Muslims, and on scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
01:21This is going to be key in the 2024 general election because the BJP has now built up a
01:27formidable coalition that cuts across several castes and class lines. And for the opposition
01:34to beat that, it will be tough.
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