Rahul Gandhi slams 'flawed' merit system, calls for caste census

Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Parliament, Rahul Gandhi, has said that the caste census is important for removing inequalities because it will reveal the truth about what is happening in India with regard to control over systems, including education, healthcare, politics, and bureaucracy.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has discussed the need for a caste census with Sukhdeo Thorat, former chairman of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) and the University Grants Commission (UGC).

In a conversation with Thorat, Rahul Gandhi asks: “Why are people so much against a caste census? What don't they like about it?”

“There is certainly a capture of our system: the education system, the healthcare system, the political system, the bureaucratic system. So for me, it is important that the truth of what is going on in India with regard to who has what access, who controls which institutions, who is where? To me, that is a fundamental nationalist exercise. I don't think… I think it is not supporting the caste census is actually anti-national because what you are saying is that we are not ready to accept the truth of what is going on in our country. So I am quite wedded to the idea of a caste census. I think we need to reiterate it further, we need to deepen it, and we need to make it more sophisticated, and that is why, you know, you have the committee there. I think it needs to be broad-based,” he says.

During the interaction, he says, "The history of the tribals, OBCs has just been eliminated." On the caste census, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, “I have had discussions with people about the caste census where I am saying look all we are doing is exposing the truth. Nothing else. And they will say to me directly that no one must not expose this truth.”

“Why not? Right, that unfairness is taking place in front of your face. You have got the Constitution that says all Indians are equal. It is absolutely crystal clear what is going on and you just don't want to accept it,” he says.

Rahul also says that the concept of merit in the country is “completely flawed” because the backward communities are not connected to it.

“There is a completely flawed concept of merit where I confuse my social position with my capability. Because for anybody to say that our education system, our bureaucratic entry systems are fair to Dalits and OBCs and Tribals, I mean that is just a complete fallacy because they are culturally not connected to these communities at all. So the entire narrative is an upper-caste narrative. This notion of merit is actually itself an unfair idea,” he says.

Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi also accused the RSS and BJP of pushing to destroy the history of backward communities, including Dalits, Tribals, and OBCs.

“There's another bigger problem, which is that the history of the Dalits, the history of the OBCs, the histories of the Tribals has just been eliminated. I never heard of a Dalit narrative, and then at the same time, there is this idea that is being pushed by the RSS and the BJP, right, which is basically to destroy their history, the history of the Dalits, the Adivasis, and the OBCs,” he says. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also said the history of backward communities has deliberately not been made available through the main education system.

“That history is not available through the main education system. An upper-caste boy or girl who is going to a school in New Delhi has no idea about this. You know that is how they can say things like oh I don't see any caste discrimination. Obviously, you don't see caste discrimination,” he says.

The Congress leader also accused the BJP of playing a “trick” with the backward communities in the country, where they are given chances to represent their communities without the real power, which lies in the institutional framework.

“See what they are doing, they have realised that they need to give lower castes an avenue. So what they have done is they have given the lower castes the avenue of representative politics, and they have said whoever wants to become MLA and whoever wants to become MP can become. In fact, we will make them, the BJP will make them. And then what they have done is they have taken the power out of the representation system and where is the power? The power is in the institutional framework except the representative framework. So the power is in the bureaucracy, the power is in corporate India, the power is in the intelligence agencies. So it is a little trick they are playing, which is ki bhaya hain hain aapko representation deingai. And representation means nothing. That is to me what is going on,” he says.

Gandhi said he thinks the truth of discrimination in India should be known to everybody. “This is a powerful idea. Why are people so much against the caste census? What don't they like about it? What is it that creates this reaction?”