NEW DELHI: Congress is once again positioning itself at the forefront of Dalit politics. This has worried both the BJP and the government. Seeing Congress’s aggressive strategy, the BJP has deployed its leaders and ministers to defend the government. However, Congress appears to be intensifying its campaign.
Congress launched a banner called “Bahujan Samaj” and held a march to Parliament House in Delhi on Saturday and named this campaign “Save the Constitution.” In fact, over the past few days, three or four such incidents have occurred in different states, giving Congress fresh opportunity to engage in Dalit politics.
Congress already engages in politics with backward and extremely backward classes. It is contesting the Bihar elections on the issue of saving the Constitution and increasing the reservation limit. But now the Dalit issue has also been added to it.
Incidents such as the attempt to throw shoes at the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the lynching of a Dalit youth in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, the suicide case of an IPS officer in Haryana, the school accident in Jhalawar, Rajasthan, the attack on a Dalit woman in Sawaimadhopur, and the increasing cases of atrocities against Dalits in other states have given a big opportunity to the Congress.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, may visit the affected areas and meet the victims. Meanwhile, the Congress has become more aggressive regarding the suicide of Haryana IPS officer Y. Puran Kumar. Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi has also expressed grief by writing a letter to Puran Kumar’s wife.
In fact, Dalit politics has long been influential in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Punjab. A major reason for Congress’s defeat in last year’s Haryana Assembly elections was the shift of Dalit votes to the BJP.
In Uttar Pradesh, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had twice won power by championing Dalit politics. However, the BJP’s strategy of unifying Hindus through religious politics not only inflicted significant losses on the opposition in Hindi-speaking states but also ousted them from power.
Congress and the entire opposition are now again reviving the Mandal politics of 1990 to make inroads into the Hindu voters. Congress, which was a victim of caste politics in the 90s, has now itself abandoned its ideology and started the caste politics of smaller parties. Even today, there is no consensus in Congress regarding caste politics. It can be said that a major section of Congress does not want Congress to abandon its ideology and do caste politics.
But after the crushing defeat in the 2019 general elections, the supreme leader of Congress, Rahul Gandhi, changed many of his strategists and started doing caste politics. It began with the caste census.
Then, in the 2023 assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi questioned the entire system, claiming that backward classes had no opportunity in this country. Caste politics took hold in the 2024 general elections because the opposition lied so profusely about the abolition of reservations that voters in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Haryana were misled.
The BJP narrowly missed a majority on its own. However, the BJP-led NDA formed a government for the third time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government proved all Congress allegations false. As a result, the BJP won resounding victories in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Delhi.
After repeated defeats and setbacks, the Congress, which has been struggling for power at the centre for more than a decade, is now resorting to caste politics, just like other regional parties.
Rahul Gandhi himself is leading the caste politics. Whereas after the defeat in UP in 2007, Rahul Gandhi himself had opposed reservation. Congress had made Rahul Gandhi work hard from 2005 to 2007 to woo the Dalit voters. Rahul Gandhi visited Dalit homes and shared meals with them. Congress’s attempt was to portray Rahul as a genuine sympathizer of Dalits. However, this strategy backfired. Muslims and other backward castes became angry. The real reason for their anger was that Rahul did not visit their homes. Congress also lost badly in the 2007 Uttar Pradesh elections.
Rahul Gandhi had become disillusioned with caste politics. However, after a decade and a half, Rahul Gandhi is once again hoping to return to power by relying on caste politics. Therefore, he had made OBC politics a major weapon by raising the issue of abolishing the 50 per cent reservation limit and reservation in the private sector. However, this also provided an opportunity to woo Dalits.
In recent days, Rahul, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi, and others have launched scathing attacks on the BJP government over Dalit oppression, while BJP leaders, including Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, have denied these allegations.
With crucial elections looming in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Punjab, Congress is set to deepen its focus on caste politics, targeting Dalit, OBC, and Muslim voters demographics that have historically proven decisive.
