Congress has announced that ‘social justice’ will be the basic plank of its manifesto for the 2024 General Elections.
“Caste census” is its central theme. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi preached and propagated the idea aggressively during his 6000 km long ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ he carried out from Manipur to Mumbai.
Rahul has been too frank to hide behind any political subtleties. He has been asserting that participation and representation, which he calls ‘baagi-daari nyay’ will be based, not on merit, but on the population proportion of a caste or a community.
This can be a dangerously divisive idea that can divide the country into small social fragments.
This goes against the “idea of India”, that Congress often claims to defend.
The aim of the “caste census”, he explains, is to provide justice to the “backwards, the Dalits, the Adivasis and the minorities”. According to Gandhi, there are about 50 per cent backwards, 15 per cent Dalits, 8 per cent Adivasis and 15 per cent minorities. He also adds a few per cent of the “poor from the general castes” and concludes that this roughly amounts to about 90 per cent of India’s population. He goes on to claim that this “90 per cent” population has been completely ignored and marginalized during the last 77 years in “free India”.
Gandhi alleges that it is the remaining “ten per cent” sometimes he says “just 2-3 per cent” which has monopolized everything from the government to the private sector including the media, the private health and educational services. To address this “injustice” he claims that the “caste census” will be the “X-ray” of the country’s social and economic situation.
During his speeches, he has repeatedly reiterated that in case the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), of which Congress is one of the constituent parties, forms the government at the centre, it will hold the “caste census” followed by “economic and financial survey” to find out who controls how much wealth and resources of the country. According to him, it is just “2-3 per cent” of the country’s population that controls the entire wealth and all the institutions, government or private, in the country.
Gandhi claims that only “90 officers” are controlling the government of India. And among these, he said, there are only 3 backwards, 3 Dalits and one Adivasi officer and even they, according to him, are sidelined. In this case, he does not mention how many officers are from the “minority” community. Nor does he identify who are the “remaining” officers who are running the show.
As a remedy, Gandhi promises to remove the “50 per cent bar” from reservations. He says the reservation will be done according to the population of a particular community (jitni aabadi, utni bhaagidari). From his argument, it means that the ‘INDIA’ government, if it comes to power, will provide “90 per cent” reservations everywhere. By implication, that means, only ten per cent of positions will be open for merit and general competition.
Gandhi has even been suggesting to provide reservations in the private sector as well, including the media, the private healthcare sector and the private education sector. He often says in his speeches that takes 200 top corporate houses of India and sees how many are owned by backwards, Dalits or Adivasis, as if these companies have been gifted by someone to these owners. Then he answers it himself, “No one”.
He goes on to say the same thing about the media companies, private hospital chains or private universities or colleges. He says the backwards, Dalits and Adivasis have not been provided any representation there.
Gandhi promises “representation” to all sections, which he calls “bhaagi-daari nyay” (justice of participation/representation).
This only reminds me of the “Mandal Days” when the then Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh implemented the “Mandal Commission Recommendations” providing 27 per cent reservations for the ‘Other Backward Castes’. That set the country on fire as merit went to the backseat. Several students belonging to the "general category" died in the countrywide protests while some committed self-immolation also.
The former Congress president is trying to repeat and replicate the “Mandal” experiment of the early 1990s that saw Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh rising to power. The two “Yadav” leaders united the “Muslims-Yadavs”, also called as “MY” factor to their advantage. The idea has already outlived its life and utility. Much water has flown down the Ganges since then.
Gandhi not only risks the prospects of his party but also puts the country in danger of social divisions. Only a few days ago, a group of students belonging to the “backward and Dalit” communities staged a protest at Ashoka University, on the outskirts of Delhi. The protestors were demanding reservation along the same lines, as promised by Gandhi, in the Ashoka University, which is a completely private university.
The Ashoka University protest is just an early warning signal, which threatens to spread to other parts of the country as well. This has the potential to create chaos and anarchy besides pushing back India economically, educationally and technically. Why would anyone invest hundreds of crores of rupees in a private university or a private hospital if recruitment and admissions are to be “reservation-based” instead of merit-based?
This all goes quite contrary to the Congress’ basic ideology of secularism. It cannot claim to be secular and at the same time seek resources, employment, education, share in power etc based on caste and religion.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has been cautious in its reaction to such “regressive” suggestions obviously for political compulsions, lest it costs the party dearly in elections. Rather, it is some prominent and veteran Congress leaders like Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Anand Sharma who have disagreed with and opposed the idea of “caste-based share” in everything.
Nothing can be more divisive than the idea of “caste census” as it has the potential to divide India into small fragments of castes and communities. Congress in general and Gandhi in particular, are trying to exploit the sentiments of people in the name of caste for electoral purposes while not bothering about its long-term consequences.
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