Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has listed corporates, the bureaucracy and this time even the armed forces as places where communities considered upper castes “have total control”, while Dalits, backward classes and minorities, who he said form 90% of India's population, are not adequately represented. He was speaking in Bihar's Kutumba on November 4, the last day of campaigning for the first phase of voting in the assembly election set for November 6.
“Take out the list of the 500 biggest companies, and search for Dalits, Extremely Backward Classes, Mahadalits, minorities, Adivasis in them. You will not find anyone. You won't find a single one. All of them come from the 10% population,” he said, referring apparently to the dominant castes of “savarnas”.
“All the bank wealth goes to them. All the jobs go to them. They get a place in the bureaucracy,” he added, referring to key leadership positions at large.
“Look at the the judiciary. They get everything there too. They have control over the army,” he said, speaking in Hindi, “And the 90% population — you will not find them anywhere.”
The armed forces do not make official data available on such count, and limited detail has come out about the higher judiciary too.
Gandhi was speaking in Kutumba, a segment reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SC) where Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Ram is the Mahagathbandhan candidate.
{{/usCountry}}Gandhi was speaking in Kutumba, a segment reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SC) where Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Ram is the Mahagathbandhan candidate.
{{/usCountry}}Also read | Opposition pins hope on Rahul to woo Dalit, EBC voters in Bihar
A video of the rally is available on his X handle.
(Watch below: Rahul Gandhi's speech begins at the 12-minute mark.)
Rahul Gandhi faces backlash over army reference
Reiterating his demand for a national caste census, Gandhi said such data was crucial to equal representation and constitutional rights. But this marked perhaps the first time he linked the army to his argument.
BJP leaders termed his argument dangerous.
“Rahul Gandhi now wants to divide even our Armed Forces on caste lines!” BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari posted on X, “The Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force stand for Nation First, not caste, creed or class. Rahul Gandhi hates our brave armed forces! Rahul Gandhi is Anti - Indian Army!”
Another BJP leader, Andhra Pradesh minister Satya Kumar Yadav, wrote: “Rahul Gandhi’s rhetoric has hit a new low. By dragging the Indian Army into his casteist tirade, he has insulted one of the world’s most professional and apolitical forces, where soldiers serve not by caste, but by the tricolour.”
Mumbai BJP spokesperson Suresh Nakhua reacted too: “In his hate for PM Modi, he has already crossed the line of hating India.”
Rahul Gandhi and caste numbers
Over the past few years, Gandhi's political pitch has remained that of “social justice” and “anti-caste”, particularly in Bihar where the Congress's bigger partner in the Mahagathbandhan, the RJD, has traditionally been a party of the backward classes, Yadavs in particular, and Muslims, though its base has widened or changed over elections.
As for his numbers, any recent caste data for the entire country is not available — the next census will count that — but Bihar carried out a caste survey in 2023 that put the ratio of so-called upper castes or unreserved category at just over 15%.
The survey said EBCs, for whom the RJD- and Congress-led Mahagathbandhan has made specific promises, are the largest caste or community group in Bihar at 36%, followed by the OBCs at 27%, Scheduled Castes at just short of 20%, and tribals at a little under 2%. In terms of religion, just under 18% of the population is Muslim, and about 82% Hindu.
No breakup as such is available for the armed forces, though they have traditionally had regiments named after communities.
Rahul Gandhi has been citing surveys and data to make the point that the backward classes are deprived of representation in all spheres mainly due to discrimination over caste.
In the judiciary, data shared by the government in Parliament says only one in 20 judges appointed to different high courts in 2018–22 were from minority communities. Only 4% belonged to SC or ST, and around 11% were from OBCs, the law ministry said in reply to a question.
There is no reservation in appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and HCs, “therefore, categorywise data pertaining to representation of any caste or class of persons… is not centrally available”, the ministry said. But it shared details for HCs as judges are required, since 2018, to provide details regarding their social background.
The ministry underlined that the "responsibility for initiation of proposals for appointment of judges in the Supreme Court vests with the Chief Justice of India" and CJs of respective HCs. “However, the government is committed to enhancing social diversity in judiciary,” it added, claiming that it has been nudging the judiciary on this.