Congress faces twin tests amid caste census and Pahalgam fallout
The Congress leadership is faced with a twin task: First, in finding ways to deal with the Modi government's attempt to walk away with the caste census plank from the Opposition party, particularly
Rahul Gandhi
who, of late, latched on to it for yet another make-over attempt. Secondly, as a party that had to pay a heavy electoral price after the Modi government harvested the nationalist fervour post Uri/Pulwama retaliatory strikes, Congress has to find ways not to fall into the same corner post-Pahalgam. This explains the Congress' hardline posture, asking PM Modi to retaliate swiftly and decisively even as the party calculates the domestic political fallout if the action this time falls short of the raised public expectation and demand.
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A Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Friday will firm up plans on these two tasks, including further projecting Rahul Gandhi as the 'prime mover' for the caste census, and fanning a campaign to guard party positions in politics over caste census and the Pahalgam incident. Having sensed that the Modi government has leveraged the first-mover advantage by announcing the first-ever national caste census, Congress has already demonstrated its compulsion to move the goalpost further by demanding a timeline for caste census besides seeking reservation beyond 50% and quota in private educational institutions. After Rahul Gandhi, Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh made these demands on the eve of the CWC meeting.
While many expect PM Modi to attach his OBC background to further patent the caste census decision, Rahul, post his ill-fated 'janeu dhari Dattatreya gotra' experiment, has been vocal more about asking others about their castes while advocating the caste census.
The Opposition parties are theoretically right in claiming that their lately accelerated campaign for caste census has forced the government's hand. Yet, many also recognise how conventional political wisdom showed the ones who operationalised a plank, even under compulsion, cornered more credit than the ones who made the demands. When India was winning the Kargil war with the effective use of the Bofors guns, the Congress tried to take credit by citing it was the
Rajiv Gandhi
government that purchased the Swedish-built guns and that the BJP had run a campaign against that gun deal, but the electoral credit went to the Vajpayee government and BJP for winning the war.
It remains a fact that the UPA cabinet, due to sharp internal differences, buried the findings of its social-economic and caste census, which meant leaving the potent plank to the current government to activate. The same happened with the Women's Reservation Bill.
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No major political player is covered in glory in the OBC politics. If the BJP-RSS combine was evidently never high on caste census with the PM insisting that 'youth, poor, women and farmers' formed the only castes for him, the past Congress governments too have a murky past in stonewalling the Kaka Kalelkar Commission and Mandal Commissions for OBC reservation. The Mandal offshoots like SP and RJD, also have a record of reducing their social justice only for Yadavas, prompting many OBC communities to move towards the BJP and its allies such as Nitish Kumar, helping them to erect a larger Hindu base. While BJP's claim that the Centre's caste census pledge will further harmonise the ties with its allies is being watched, equally under scanner is how Congress' bid for a pie of the OBC political pitch will be treated by allies including SP and RJD who are possessive of their social base, built at the cost of the Congress. Given how political opportunism and U-turns by parties have become 'normal' in today's power politics, only one thing dictates these high-stake politics over caste census and Pahalgam issue; that 'Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar' (the one who wins is the king) -- at any cost.
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