NEW DELHI: ‘Rahul Gandhi sees no benefit in rewarding forward communities.’
The Congress party will be intensifying its focus on backward caste and community mobilization, viewing it as a strategic counter to the BJP’s “Hindutva” agenda. By claiming to prioritize the needs and rights of Dalits, Congress aims to reclaim its historical support base among this community, which has eroded in recent years.
This renewed emphasis is seen as crucial by party strategists for enhancing electoral prospects, particularly in states where Dalit votes can significantly influence outcomes.
Congress party sources claim that the electoral benefit the BJP could achieve from Hindutva politics has reached a saturation point, and it will now be pushed to follow Congress’ strategy of indulging and engaging heavily in backward caste politics.
The recent decision by the BJP to roll back lateral entry—one of its crucial reforms that would have transformed the bureaucracy by introducing specialists—is being touted by Congress leaders as an impact of Congress Member of Parliament and now the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi’s backward caste politics. Congress leaders told The Sunday Guardian that now the BJP would be extremely wary of introducing any reform or program lest it is seen as “anti-backward”.
After assuming a strong position in the Congress hierarchy, Gandhi has aggressively pushed his pro-Dalit stance into the working of the organization, even as he has chosen to ignore muted concerns from some quarters within the party that while focusing on the backward community, he has neglected the political well-being of his party members from the forward community.
This has been attributed by Congress leaders to Rahul’s understanding that Dalit voters have still not reached the level of commitment to the BJP that other communities—especially the Rajputs and Bhumihars—have.
Congress party sources said that, according to multiple research inputs and feedback Rahul Gandhi has been receiving over the last few years, voters from these two communities have largely not voted for Congress and hence there was no electoral benefit in “rewarding” them.
Interestingly, voices of concern from leaders belonging to forward communities in both parties are rising as both Congress and BJP leaderships have been engaged in marketing themselves as platforms for backward community politics. This has led to the shrinking of space for forward communities, the leaders claim.
Rahul’s demand for a caste census, a significant increase in reservations, and his political messaging of “jitni abadi, utna haq,” which translates into proportional representation in jobs and legislatures, has, according to Congress leaders, yielded rich political dividends.
The estimated population of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in India is around 41% of the total population. This figure was determined by the National Sample Survey Organization in 2006. Similarly, as per the 2011 Census of India, the Scheduled Castes (SC) population constitutes approximately 16.6% of the total population.
Prominent leaders belonging to forward communities from the central, northern, and eastern states from both parties told The Sunday Guardian that their caste identity has, many times in the recent past, emerged as a hindrance to their progression within party ranks. While this was not prevalent in the BJP for a long time, the condition has now changed, which is being attributed to the party’s mirror-response to Rahul Gandhi’s politics focused on backward communities.