Is Rahul Gandhi’s social justice card the key to trumping Hindutva’s corrosive appeal?

At the end of July, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s query in Parliament about the caste status of the bureaucrats who had drafted the 2024-’25 Budget raised many eyebrows.

Gandhi seemed to be suggesting that the Budget could not be expected to reflect the aspirations of the backward castes if none of the people framing the document was drawn from those sections of society.

As was to be expected, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party attacked Gandhi’s statement. It said that Gandhi’s attitude would widen caste chasms rather than obliterating them.

Nonetheless, on September 2, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – the BJP’s parent organisation – announced that it supports demands for a caste census that would allow India to get a sense of how many of its citizens actually belong to marginal castes. Unless this data is available, India will not be able to tailor social programmes to benefit those at the bottom of the ladder.

These two developments may offer a historic opportunity for the supporters of social justice. A blunt deployment of caste could be an effective weapon against the brand of communal politics being espoused by Narendra Modi’s BJP.

आज संसद में जब मैंने जातिगत जनगणना की बात उठाई तो वित्त मंत्री ने हंस कर इस गंभीर विषय...

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