New Delhi: Why did Rahul Gandhi say what he did during his ongoing sojourn to the US? It is not a million-dollar question nor even worth a guessing game because the answer is clear – it is about the power game.
His interaction with the students and the faculty of Georgetown University in Washington DC and a day earlier with the members of the Indian community in Virginia, can be taken as case studies as to how Rahul Gandhi and the Congress are working in a planned manner to rake up caste, community, religion, region, state and ethnicity differences.
In Virginia, Rahul Gandhi asked a person his name and said that the fight was about whether he, as a Sikh, was going to be allowed to wear a turban in India and be able to visit a Gurdwara. Then, while pointing to the crowd, he said people from Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala were there and what if a Tamilian was not allowed to speak his language how would he feel.
In one stroke he tried to stir religion and regional feelings by suggesting to the US audience that religious and linguistic minorities in India are facing discrimination.
“…This is your history, your language, your tradition. Your entire imagination is in these words…,” the Congress leader said in a sophisticated manner.
He said that it is a fight about all religions, regions and ethnicities.
In Washington DC, Rahul Gandhi made a strong pitch for the caste census. He said that the caste census was now an “unstoppable idea” and the critical question of whether 90 per cent of our population was meaningfully represented in India’s institutional structure — economy, government, education — demanded an answer.
When a student asked him whether there were other better ways to strengthen institutions at the grassroots level than caste-based reservation, the Congress leader presented her with numbers of the participation of various castes in the governance.
He said: “… there are 78 bureaucrats who run the government… secretaries to the GoI … they make financial decisions .. if you add up Dalits, OBCs, and tribals they come to 73 per cent… Out of 78 people, there is one tribal…there are three Dalits, three OBCs and a minority … 90 per cent of India has less than one per cent…We will think of scrapping reservations when India is a fair place and India is not a fair place … that way it is a problem…”
Rahul Gandhi’s aggressive posture on caste politics, however, contrasts his party’s stance on the sensitive topic since Independence. In fact, his party and his political dynasty had always stayed away from caste rhetoric.
In 1951, PM Jawaharlal Nehru had opposed the caste census. Nehru had written on June 27, 1961, “I dislike any kind of reservation, more particularly in service. I react strongly against anything which leads to inefficiency and second-rate standards”. This was mentioned by FM Sitharaman while replying to the discussion on the Union Budget 2024 in Parliament.
Indira Gandhi put the report of the Mandal Commission, which was ordered by the Janata Party government in 1977, in cold storage even though it was submitted in 1980. The same year, she coined a slogan to counter caste-based parties — “Na jaat par na paat par, mohar lagegi haath par (Vote for Congress and not on caste and community lines)”.
Rajiv Gandhi also ignored the Mandal Commission report. When the then Central government implemented it, the Late PM had termed it as an attempt to divide the country on caste lines.
During his speech in the Lok Sabha on September 6, 1990, Rajiv Gandhi said, “The Prime Minister (V.P. Singh) does not have the guts to stand up and say whether he believes in a casteless society or does not believe in a casteless society. It is very sad. Sir, Raja Sahib is putting the caste into our society, once again. He is ensuring that caste does not go out by this action and by sticking to his guns on this issue of caste.”
The late PM had insisted on a casteless society. “…Our goal today must be a casteless society. Let us be clear about that…”
But, almost 34 years later, his son Rahul Gandhi is invoking caste, religion and ethnicity differences to find the formula to break the BJP and come back to power.
Congress has been out of power for the past 10 years and has faced decimation in several states. But, being in the INDIA bloc has benefitted the party greatly and this was seen in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections when it won 99 seats.
Rahul Gandhi and his team after several hits and trials have zeroed on the caste-religion politics, which they believe is the only way to break the BJP’s spell and beat Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And this is going to go more aggressive now.
(Deepika Bhan can be contacted at deepika.b@ians.in)
–IANS
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