The Congress Working Committee (CWC) has unanimously supported the idea of Caste Census in the country and Rahul Gandhi has also been speaking about it. Is the Caste Census Rahul Gandhi’s new Poll Plank to help Congress win the upcoming elections?
New Delhi: The Assembly Elections 2023 are round the corner and the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 are also not very far. All political parties are working hard to create a solid vote bank for themselves and are making promises to the general public, that they intend to fulfil once they win the elections. The Congress Working Committee, in a unanimous decision has whole-heartedly supported the Caste Census in India. After the CWC Meeting, it has been said by the party that if elected, Congress will hold a Caste Census and through legislation, will also remove the 50% tab no reservations for SCs, STs and the Backward Classes. Apart from the party opinion, Rahul Gandhi has also been individually promoting the idea of a Caste Census during his rallies which is quite oppostite to the stance of the Senior Congress Leaders in the past. Seeing the way Congress is moving ahead, a question that may arise in one’s mind would be that is this Rahul Gandhi’s new ‘trump card’ to help Congress win the Upcoming Elections?
Rahul Gandhi has been staunchly supporting the idea of a Caste Census in the country, has been promoting it at various levels and has also been speaking about it in public. After the Congress Working Committee meeting, Rahul Gandhi said, “The Congress Working Committee (CWC) after a four-hour meeting has taken a historic decision and unanimously decided to support the idea of a caste census in the country. I think it is a very progressive and powerful step for the emancipation of the poor people in the country.” He further added, “There might be a few who have a slightly different position and that is fine. We are quite flexible and not fascist.” Rahul Gandhi also said that the Caste Census is like an ‘X-Ray’ which is needed for the new paradigm and development in country. The Congress leader has also slammed PM Modi by saying that the Prime Minister is incapable of doing caste census and he does not work for the OBCs but just distracts them from main issues. This also seems to be a way to oppose the ruling party, who has not been in favour of a caste census, thus further fueling the possibility of Caste Census being a poll plank for the Congress party.
It does seem strange to a lot of people and this point has also been raised by the ruling party, that Rahul Gandhi and Congress are supporting the idea of a Caste Census in the nation which the previous senior Congress leaders, including Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi, had opposed in the past. While Pt Jawaharlal Nehru had opposed a caste census in 1951, Rahul Gandhi’s father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, in his speech in the Parliament in 1990, had also done the same by making a remark against the Mandal Commission. Gandhi had said that for him this is breaking the country and the country must be pulled back from the caste division; he had also said to the VP Singh government that it was creating a ‘vested interest in casteism and the country is going to pay a very heavy price for this’.
Rahul Gandhi’s grandmother and India’s first woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had also spoken against promotion or division on the basis of caste by putting the report of the Mandal Commission on the backburner. Not only this, during the same year, to counter the caste-based parties, she had also coined a slogan- ‘Na jaat par na paat par, mohar lagegi haath par’. Not only these three leaders but Rahul Gandhi’s mother and former AICC President Sonia Gandhi had also pulled back on the prospect of caste preference because it could upset the upper castes when in 2013, Rahul Gandhi (then AICC Vice-President) had spoken about especially empowering the Dalits, tribals, OBCs and minorities. Sonia Gandhi had then told her son to not force a ‘radical shift’.
Sonia Gandhi does not seem to agree with her own opinion as today, ten years later, the senior leader reportedly told CWC in the meeting, “I am 100 per cent with the caste census, we must get it done. This is our highest priority.” This again takes us into the direction of the party’s agenda and so-called options to win the upcoming elections as this is a strong appeasement point with respect to the general public. By the looks of it, one can also say that with the Caste Census agenda, Congress may be taking the route of regional political parties like RJD and JD(U) and going a step ahead of ‘Mandal Politics’; to understand this better, we must first refresh the concept of Mandal Politics. ‘Mandal’ which is often referred to politics involving Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Scheduled Castes has its origins in the Mandal Commission established in 1979 by the Janata Party government. Its aim was to “identify the socially or educationally backward classes” of India. The RJD and JD(U) in Bihar have historically practised different brands of Mandal Politics to win over the public.
Congress also can be seen using Caste as a tool or key political agenda to make people walk on to their side and help the party win the elections. The win Congress recently witnessed in Karnataka has also excessively boosted its confidence and it seems that the political party is now ready to use the Caste Census as an appeasement policy to garner more votes in the upcoming Assembly Elections 2023 in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram and also the Lok Sabha Elections happening in early 2024.
In a poll rally in MP, ahead of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2023, Rahul Gandhi has pledged a caste census in the state if Congress comes to power. He said, “We will conduct the caste census. If BJP does not, we will put so much pressure on them that they have to do it. Or else we will do it.” The ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ leader has also remarked, “The state governments of Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Rajasthan have started working on the caste census. While the Congress aims at retaining power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, it has to make its place in Mizoram, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh and they believe Caste Census is the way to get through.
It seems that Congress has pinned its hope on the ‘Caste Census’, making it the party’s prime agenda or main election manifesto, to win in the five State Assembly Polls 2023 and the Lok Sabha General Elections 2024. Is the party wholly committed towards creating a space and more opportunities for the OBCs and minorities or the Caste Census is ‘primarily’ a poll plank for the upcoming elections, we will have to see in the coming days.