Rahul Gandhi has demonstrated remarkable political and intellectual honesty, when he admitted to his lack of understanding and political insight on the issues of the OBC’s. Speaking at the OBC conclave in the capital, he said that he had worked on the issues of Dalits, tribals and minorities but that the problems of OBCs had eluded him. He rightly acknowledged that the concerns of the OBC were hidden and not obvious to someone not initiated into it. Theoretically the idea of justice, social or otherwise, is rooted in the paradigm of distributive justice, which we see as the mahatma’s talisman of protecting the interests of the last man and OBCs are definitely not the last man in Indian society. The OBC issues is of subtle denial, not excluded but unfavorably included into the maze of caste hierarchy. They are not condemned to untouchability but, denied access to education and capital. As the chief producer class of the Indian society, they were entitled to be the industrial class, but the instruments of power were against them. Mr Gandhi has rightly identified that it is more than a struggle for representation, but is about claiming their share of power. As the overwhelming majority of India’s populace, they have a rightful claim to the epicenter of power and the sangh parivar has granted access only on the condition that they serve, savarna interests The grammar of hindutva ensures it and they have recruited foot soldiers from the OBC ranks. Given their numbers, they decide the electoral maths and it’s only by ‘social engineering’ that they can be controlled. It’s here that the caste census can wreck the cart. The block it counts would get a name, which would develop a body and soul. If the center uses its engineering in determining the blocks, OBC cause would be greatly affected. If states preempt it, the political struggle would begin. The opposition is trying to outrun the center. The center has realized and notified the caste census in the middle of the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor. Rahul Gandhi has laid his road straight, it’s about taking his party along.
Chaperoning the OBC cause
