Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stooped to a new low in furtherance of his caste rhetoric on Wednesday and attacked the judiciary saying that while Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was granted bail in a liquor scam case, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren remains in jail because he is an Adivasi (tribal). He claimed that whenever someone is Dalit or Adivasi they are “automatically framed”. Notably, Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in March in a money laundering case.
Speaking at the Samvidhan Samman Sammelan on the 22nd of May, the Congress prince said, “Two Chief Ministers were arrested. The tribal CM (Hemant Soren) is still in jail. He was arrested before and is still behind bars. The national media has forgotten him; it doesn’t talk about him… Mayawati is corrupt but not Naveen Patnaik, Lalu Yadav is corrupt…if someone is tribal or Dalit, he is automatically framed.”
In furtherance of his sinister “Jitni aabaadi utna haq” agenda, Gandhi claimed that 90% of India’s population lacks participation in media, bureaucracy, etc “as if they do not exist.”
Interestingly, Rahul Gandhi played up caste division between Hemant Soren and Arvind Kejriwal, both of whom are Congress’s allies in the I.N.D.I. Alliance, in a bid to establish the narrative that the Dalits and Adivasis are deliberately targeted by the ‘system’.
Although the Modi challenge has compelled even the staunchest of political adversaries to join hands, the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress have not been able to sustain their pretence of unity. Time and again, the leaders of the two I.N.D.I Alliance partners have attacked each other. Recently, Rahul Gandhi held a rally in Delhi, however, Kejriwal was not invited. While Delhi will be voting on 25th May, Congress leaders are also missing from AAP’s campaign.
In an accidental moment of truth, Rahul Gandhi said that he has been sitting in the system from the inside since the day he was born and the system is aligned against the lower castes at all levels.
“I have been sitting in the system since the day I was born. I understand the system from the inside. You cannot hide the system from me. How it works, whom it favours, how it favours, whom it protects, whom it attacks, I know everything because I come from inside the system. When my grandmother was the PM, my father was the PM, and when Manmohan Singh was the PM, I used to go to the PM’s house. So I know how the system works from the inside. I can tell you one thing, the system is aligned against the lower castes, severely and on every level…” Gandhi said.
While Rahul Gandhi may have made these remarks to solidify his “JanNayak” image among marginalised caste groups, it primarily reflects the bias of the system established by the Congress Party, since the party ruled India for the maximum time post-independence. This Congress-created ‘system’ entrenched and institutionalised discrimination against Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes.
Are politicians Hemant Soren and Lalu Yadav being “automatically framed” due to their caste identity?
Rahul Gandhi is alleging that Hemant Soren, Lalu Yadav, and other leaders belonging to marginalised communities are “automatically framed” in corruption cases due to their caste identity while Naveen Patnaik is not. Now the question is, who is “automatically framing” these leaders? Rahul Gandhi’s assertions are a direct attack on the judiciary in the garb of targeting the government and ‘system’.
Notably, in Hemant Soren’s case, he was arrested over involvement in an alleged land scam after the Enforcement Directorate said that it recovered cash worth over Rs 36 lakh from the possession of the JMM leader along with documents linked to the ongoing investigation into the alleged acquisition of land by ‘fraudulent means’. The probe agency said that land parcels spanning 8.5 acres were part of the criminal proceeds that the former CM allegedly acquired. Hemant Soren was sent into judicial custody by the PMLA court.
Besides, Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Yadav who is currently out on bail has been convicted of involvement in multiple scams. Notably, Lalu Yadav was convicted in the Fodder Scam case and sentenced to five years in prison, again by the courts, not the government, the BJP or the bureaucracy. The Special CBI court found Yadav guilty of embezzling public money meant for cattle fodder.
Was Hemant Soren denied bail due to his Adivasi identity?
Meanwhile, Kejriwal has been granted interim bail till 5th June with certain conditions imposed by the Supreme Court. While the AAP supremo getting interim bail for the election campaign is a matter of separate discussion, it is pertinent to delve into why Kejriwal was granted bail but Soren was not. In contrast to the Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is not a national political party. Moreover, Hemant Soren resigned as Chief Minister before being arrested. Unlike Kejriwal, he is not the party’s president; that position is held by his father, Shibu Soren.
Soren after his arrest had challenged its legality in Jharkhand High Court, which it dismissed in April. Meanwhile, the ED filed the chargesheet in the case and the trial court toook note of it. Notably, the Jharkhand HC had reserved its order in February itself and dismissed Soren’s plea two months later. Meanwhile, Soren submitted a bail plea in the trial court which was also dismissed.
On 22nd May, the Supreme Court refused to entertain Soren’s plea challenging his arrest, not because he happens to be an Adivasi, but because the apex court observed that Soren was pursuing parallel remedies by submitting this bail application while also appealing the HC ruling on the legal validity of the arrest. Thus, contrary to Rahul Gandhi’s claims, Hemant Soren’s caste identity had nothing even remotely to do with his arrest or denial of bail.
It is essential to note that “caste” has been central to Congress’s 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign. Congress’s fixation with caste is reflected in its poll manifesto wherein it promised to conduct an “X-ray” through caste census and redistribute wealth based on findings of the same, introduce reservations for SC/ ST and OBCs in private educational institutions, and enact Rohith Vemula Act even as it was found that Vemula was not a Dalit. Although the caste narrative has taken centre stage in Congress’s poll campaign, its tried and tested Muslim appeasement also continues. In its manifesto, the Congress party has promised to appoint more judges, belonging to the Muslim community, to the High Courts and the Supreme Court.
Interestingly, Rahul Gandhi dragging the judiciary in his toxic caste rhetoric is not surprising. In its manifesto, Congress has assured to strengthen the ‘autonomy’ of the Commissions for SC, ST, minorities and OBC. While Rahul Gandhi and his party accused the Modi government and BJP of doing ‘divisive’ politics, Congress itself is desperately trying to establish an “us versus them” narrative wherein the “us” are the marginalised communities and “them” are the so-called upper caste people and the rich.
Before the judiciary, Rahul Gandhi attacked the Indian Army to escalate his caste rhetoric
It is essential to mention that before the judiciary, Rahul Gandhi had dragged the Indian Army into his caste rhetoric as he said earlier this month that there is a distinction between jawans belonging to the lower castes vis-a-vis those belonging to the upper castes. He said this while criticising the Agniveer scheme. “Narendra Modi has made two types of Jawans. One is the son of a poor, Dalit, Backward Class, minority community, and the other, is the son of a rich family. The son of a poor family has been given a new name: Agniveer,” Gandhi said insinuating that the government treats soldiers belonging to various castes differently.
From labelling PM Modi as a ‘fake OBC’, promising caste “X-ray”, and caste-based wealth redistribution to reportedly demanding the caste profile of the passengers in a flight, Rahul Gandhi has made every sinister move feasible; nonetheless, his attacks on the judiciary and the armed forces are unsettling and could prove to be detrimental to the country and the Congress party.
