Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been projecting himself as a vocal advocate for caste representation in various sectors. Recently, he questioned why SC/ST and OBC participants did not win the Miss India pageant. Not going into how incorrect he was, it is a fact that the Congress Party seems to have created a strategy to make Rahul the frontline leader to stress the need for inclusivity and diversity across all platforms and sectors.
Since before the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, he has been making calls for a caste census and has claimed that “no power can stop caste census.” He asserts that his demand is focused on ensuring every community has a stake in the nation’s governance. However, OpIndia’s close examination of the composition of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) revealed a stark contrast to these ideals.
The CWC composition: Upper castes dominate
There are 39 members listed in the recent CWC composition, out of which at least 20 belong to the General category or Upper Caste. This highlights a significant bias towards the upper echelons of the caste hierarchy in the party leadership itself. Prominent figures in the CWC, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, P. Chidambaram, and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, are part of the most privileged communities in the country.
On deeper analysis, we found that only five members of the CWC belong to the Scheduled Caste (SC) category, including leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge and Meira Kumar.
Only six members represent minority communities, including Salman Khurshid. Women form a crucial demographic in the voter base of the Congress Party; however, only six women have been given representation, including Sonia Gandhi. Representation of Scheduled Tribes is limited to two members in the CWC and OBC is limited to three.
Caste overlap and dual categories
There are some individuals who fall into multiple categories, but this does not have much effect on the overall representation of the marginalised communities. For instance, Sonia Gandhi belongs to the General Category and is a woman. The same goes for Meira Kumar, who belongs to the SC community and is a woman. Such instances highlight the intersectional identities of the leaders but have an almost negligible effect on the overwhelming dominance of the upper caste in the CWC.
The hypocrisy of caste division politics
Rahul Gandhi is consistently demanding a caste census and greater representation of marginalised communities in every sector, even in trivial events like Miss India. He has raised questions almost every day since the Congress Party discovered that speaking on caste can keep him in the headlines. However, his demands contrast sharply with the party’s practices. The very structure of the Congress Party’s leadership and its historical choices of leaders suggest there is a deep-rooted resistance to true power-sharing with marginalised communities.
The not-so-subtle disparity between what Rahul Gandhi has been demanding and what the Congress Party practices in its internal caste dynamics raises many questions about his integrity and ethics as a leader. The dominance of the upper caste in the CWC suggests that the party’s commitment to caste representation is only an eyewash. The hypocrisy of the Congress Party leaders is clear in the disconnect between the words and actions of Rahul Gandhi and the party.
The debate over caste representation and the caste census is not going to end, as it gives political mileage to leaders. However, it is high time that questions are asked of those who present themselves as the messiahs of the marginalised.
