Rahul Gandhi’s remark in a podcast that the ‘notion of merit is unfair and an upper caste narrative’ sheds further light on his political strategy. He is pushing for ‘proportional representation’ in government jobs irrespective of whether those selected can do them. He overlooks that fact it is merit that counts everywhere in the world, even when space has been created for ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’. In fact, at the present, there has been a powerful pushback in the United States against sidelining merit in favour of accommodating those ‘left behind’. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that, despite being from a privileged background, he himself has not scored very high on the merit scale, particularly on the political front.
Ironically, the allies of the Congress in the South, the DMK in particular, are up in arms against ‘proportionate representation’, arguing that they deserve a greater share in political power at the Centre because of their meritorious performance regarding population control. Of course, such contradictions, obvious as they are, do not bother politicians because the objective is acquiring and retaining power, whatever the means. The fact that such self-serving tactics can result in serious derailment of the nation’s progress and the economy is too difficult for most of them to comprehend.
Fundamentally, Rahul Gandhi’s plan seems to be to create a deep divide between ‘upper castes’ and others, much like the traditional targeting of Jews in western society. This would ensure that the Hindutva consolidation of the presently dominant BJP is fractured. Some analysts are of the opinion that he is encouraged by the belief that the BJP’s failure to achieve its 400-plus target in the General Elections was because the opposition was successful in spreading the belief that the party intended to remove the reservation provision in the constitution.
Rahul Gandhi believes that a ‘caste census’ would reveal a picture of deprivation and backwardness that would only be corrected by expanding the scope of reservations. He has, however, not been able to persuade his party’s government in Karnataka to act upon the census it conducted. This is because the dominant political forces in the state are of the OBC category and strongly opposed to each other. He also overlooks the fact that, while his own caste status is not defined, the senior leaders of the BJP are OBCs. Caste politics existed before the present Hindutva wave and all it did was strengthen regional parties and break up the umbrella Congress. Does that merit any thought?
