'Rahul Gandhi Is Stabilising India With Caste Census Demand'

'Rahul Gandhi is raising the issue of a caste census though his party has been doing injustice on this front from the 1950s.'

Rahul Gandhi stoked a controversy by stating that no OBC, Dalit or Adivasi girl has been crowned Miss India.

The statement was criticised by many who felt that the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha was trying to find caste discrimination in places where it cannot even be imagined.

But since he is Rahul Gandhi, the statement opened up a debate over the caste census. Which is a taboo for the ruling National Democratic Alliance government as they feel it will unleash a caste monster and lead to instability in the country.

The last caste census was carried out in 1931. Dr Manmohan Singh's government conducted a caste census in 2011 but did not publish the findings.

Only the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar conducted a caste census in 2023, a hot potato for most political parties.

Ironically, even as Rahul Gandhi fires on all cylinders, the Karnataka government helmed by his Congress party has refused to publish the caste census report fearing a backlash.

"Everything will change after the caste census. The system will be dismantled and they (upper castes) will have to part with their share (of power and riches)," Justice V Eswaraiah (retd), former acting chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh high court and former chairperson of the National Commission for Backward Classes, tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com.

After Rahul Gandhi's statement, that we don't see Miss Indias from OBCs and or Dalits, don't you feel we are stretching the caste debate a bit too far?

We are not stretching it too far as this argument is the idea of forward caste people, which is not based on democratic principles or social justice. And this is exactly contrary to what the Constitution says.

Upper caste people have a mentality of hegemony and supremacy.

Do you also feel that the Miss India pageant, or for that matter the Indian cricket team where Dalits are not present, is a ploy by the so-called upper castes to keep the so-called lower castes out?

Ours is a democratic country and the central idea of the Constitution of India is to give social justice.

It means that in society everybody must be treated equal and on par. We should co-exist and treat each other as brothers and not (define someone) as washerman, cobbler, begging classes or wandering classes who don't have any education, employment and health facilities.

Where are we in these parameters? Are we living in some primitive age, or an independent developing age?

Do you feel by making such statements Rahul Gandhi is forcing the NDA government to take back policies like a lateral entry in the bureaucracy? Is some churn going on in OBC and Dalit societies?

The Modi government did snatch (OBC and Dalit posts) and introduce lateral entry posts for upper castes. They introduced the economically weaker sections category in reservations and then did privatisation too.

Where were they leading the country?

The proponents of a caste census say that India is ruled by the 15 percent upper castes. Will this change after a caste census?

Everything will change after the caste census. The system will be dismantled and they (upper castes) will have to part with their share (of power and riches).

They will have to part with the (fruits) that they are enjoying socially and legally.

We are only asking, 'Give our share', 'Live and let us live'.

You cannot exploit menial workers. How long can you go on exploiting like this? Not forever, for sure.

All this sounds more like Communism rather than social justice. Communism is a failed system globally.

Nobody begs in Communist countries. I have seen begging in the USA, but not in any Communist country. In China I didn't see anyone begging or for that matter in Russia.

But North Korea and Cuba beg for foreign aid.

I am talking of internal begging. I don't see any beggars in North Korea.

Why are we pushing for this kind of social justice which is a failed economic model in the world?

China is definitely a successful country. Even all countries of the former USSR are doing economically well if the wars didn't ravage them due to American interference.

Don't you think the slogan 'jiski jitni aabadi uski utni hissedaari (numbers to decide share in power)' will lead to violent, social instability?
Isn't Rahul Gandhi unintentionally instigating social violence?

There will be no violent reaction. On the contrary, this will lead to a peaceful, harmonious, society.

There will be a revolution if the gap between the haves and have-nots goes on increasing.

BJP supporters allege Rahul Gandhi is using the caste census to destabilise India.

Rahul Gandhi is trying to stabilise India with a caste census (demand). It is the BJP who is destabilising India by pushing things back.

Do the OBCs see Rahul Gandhi as some sort of messiah like V P Singh who implemented the Mandal Commission report?

I don't want to comment on the truthfulness and fairness of Rahul Gandhi, but yes (a caste census) is our demand to get social justice in this country.

Rahul Gandhi is raising the issue of a caste census though his party has been doing injustice on this front from the 1950s. He has made it a national agenda now, therefore we are appreciating his efforts.

Don't you feel this can lead to an exodus of meritorious upper caste students to other countries?

What is merit? I had spoken to you about the earlier.

A child who takes birth in a slum and studies in a government school without any facilities like a teacher and tuitions, his merit cannot be compared with that of a privileged child who studies in a corporate school with access to teachers and tuitions.

If the slum boy gets 40 percent marks and the corporate school boy gets 60 percent marks, who is in merit according to you? That answers the question.

Merit is misunderstood and misconceived. They (upper castes) have propagated that if merit is not there incompetent people will come and rule.

If you do a survey of the IAS and IPS you will find out who is more corrupt? The meritorious or non-meritorious officers?

During a discussion on reservations an upper caste friend made the observation that those who defend reservations must be made to undergo surgery by reserved category doctors. How do you answer such questions?

A villager when he becomes a doctor, he knows the pain and suffering of the patient. He will become a better person than the urban doctor who passed with more marks.

The villager will become a better surgeon than the surgeon who is born and brought up in the city.

People born with a silver spoon live in ivory towers and only they make such arguments.

Opponents of reservations say that by giving reservations you reinforce the caste system in schools and colleges.
Reserved candidates get singled out and discriminated on campuses due to which s/he is not a meritorious student and therefore the entire system is flawed.

This should be undone by the philosophy of 'jiski jitni sankhya bhaari uski utni hissedari'

The elite look down on reserved students, but the reserved student can study well and do well. Once reservation students get a majority, they will not be looked down in campuses.

In Tamil Nadu this is exactly the case. Forward castes are looked down upon. Brahmins of Tamil Nadu have fled from the state and settled down in different cities and other parts of the world.

Backward classes are never looked down in Tamil Nadu because 69 percent reservation exists in the state.

Don't you feel that if a person gets a reservation seat, then from childhood it is ingrained in his mind that he can never compete with upper caste open category students?

This is a wrong understanding of the situation, because India has not given quality and good education alike to everyone. This is the same case with healthcare.

We have denied the fundamental right of quality education from kindergarten to post graduate students, so how can you expect a poor man to come up in life without giving him a proper share in such circumstances?

You have privatised schools and healthcare; I feel we must abolish privatisation in these two sectors.

You first give equal education and healthcare and then (if you want) don't give any reservation.

If you create the same level playing field, let everyone race together and whoever comes on top, let that person come on top.

You deprive people of these two things and then call them useless people.