FORWARD CASTES WORRIED ABOUT RAHUL'S OBC PUSH

‘Commitment’ to the backwards communities is being promised and executed while ostracising the forward castes, which has not gone down wellin the party.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

Congress’s ongoing outreach to the backward classes has as sumed a more prominent position following party leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent pronouncements in Bihar and at the AICC session in Ahmedabad.

However, this “commitment” to the backward communities is being promised and executed while ostracising the forward castes— something that has not gone down well with party leaders and functionaries from forward communities. It has also led to internal questions about how the Congress leadership plans to utilise their experience and expertise in the near future.

In Bihar, Gandhi reiterated that the party was committed to empowering historically marginalised communities, citing the recent election of district presidents as a tangible example of the changes he is initiating. He said that the party was moving away from a predominantly “upper caste” leadership structure toward greater representation of EBCs, OBCs, Dalits, and other backward communities.

According to senior Congress leaders, these assertions were not for local consumption alone, but reflected a broader national strategy that Gandhi aims to implement.

Gandhi went on to claim that those not belonging to the “upper castes” are often treated as second-class citizens—even as he ignored the visible discomfort his statements caused among several forward caste leaders, many of whom have been in the party for over two decades and were present in Patna.