Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Caste Aspersions’: Here’s The Congress Strategy Behind Halwa Ceremony Bitter Note

The Congress has struck a bitter note in the halwa ceremony before the Budget presentation, with Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi raising the issue of caste of the officers seen with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Caste has taken centrestage in the Congress’s attack against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). With former minister Anurag Thakur taking a jibe, the Congress raised this issue in the parliamentary party meeting as well. The party has even moved a privilege motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Charanjit Singh Channi, a Dalit leader of the party, has been chosen to move it on the grounds of the PM’s endorsement of Thakur’s comment.

Senior Congress leader and Rahul Gandhi’s mother Sonia Gandhi hit out at the BJP saying: “It is clear that the government has no intention whatsoever to conduct the census that was last due in 2021. This will prevent us from having an up to date estimate of the population of the country, especially of the SC and ST.”

THE STRATEGY

It’s a two-pronged strategy of the Congress. Rahul Gandhi began his politics in 2004, stating the party won’t have an India which is divided on the basis of caste. With failures for 10 years, Gandhi and the Congress realised that they may have to fall back on an issue, which had steered the ‘Mandal Kamandal politics’.

Projecting Gandhi as the messiah of the backwards and Dalits, the Congress has decided that the caste census can be a big issue, not just for the state elections, but also for the next five years.

Apart from the INDIA bloc using it as their slogan, the Congress hopes that the issue could also divide the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and ensure that more parties who play the same card come to their side. For example, BJP ally Anupriya Patel has already supported the idea of a caste census.

Over the next few weeks, the Congress plans to take to the streets with this issue and make it their big pitch. Also, Thakur’s comment will be used by the Congress on social media to underscore how his party and he insulted not just Rahul Gandhi, but OBCs and Dalits too.