losing Congress moves to woo the minorities
More than midway into the lok Sabha election, the Congress appears to have reconciled to defeat and is desperately seeking to contain the damage. Nothing else can explain its renewed thrust at enticing the minorities with sops. While earlier the Congress had in its manifesto promised reservations for deserving Muslims within the existing quota for Other Backward Classes, it has now specified its intent to carve out a 4.5 per cent slice from the OBC share for the minorities. Since this cannot be done in the existing legal framework, the party will need to amend the Constitution to have its way. Considering that it appears far from getting even a simple majority on its own, the passage of a constitutional amendment it moves on the issue is a distant prospect. But then the Congress is not really concerned by that; all it wants is to attract the Muslim voters with empty promises. Unfortunately for the party, the minorities have wised up to such rhetoric and will not be swayed by them. Besides, the existing beneficiaries of the OBC quota are certain to be up in arms since their share will naturally reduce with the addition of new entrants. The Congress is also engaged in another nefarious design: To tinker with the existing quota for the Scheduled Castes by getting in all Dalit minorities, including the 'Muslim and Christian Dalits' — never mind if both these religious communities do not believe in the caste system — into the reservation net. The benefit is presently available to Hindu and Buddhist Scheduled Castes. Here too the plan is to largely appease the Muslims who may be left out of the OBC list even after the proposed amendment. The Congress perhaps believes that, having lost the core Scheduled Caste votes to regional parties such as the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh and Scheduled Tribe votes to parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party in other States, it can win over the affection of the Dalits who have been left out of the reservation net. Again, it is playing with fire and seeking to cause divisions in society.
That the Congress is rattled is obvious from the findings of various opinion poll surveys which have been showing a rising support for the BJP across sections of society, including among those who have traditionally not whole-heartedly backed the Right-of-Centre party. For instance, the Uttar Pradesh Jatavs, who are a Scheduled Caste, are said to veering towards the BJP. Scheduled Caste voters, especially the educated, living in urban regions, too have been demonstrating a desire to move away from age-old caste politics and embrace an alternative that promises growth and development. All this is bad news for the Congress, just as it is for regional parties that have flourished in politics by exploiting these communities and not really empowering them.
The Congress cannot think beyond reservations when it talks of schemes to improve the lot of the minorities, because its philosophy is limited to one of hollow appeasement. There are a hundred different and more sensible ways to empower the Muslims and the other minority communities of the country, but the party has demonstrated neither the will nor the ability to do so when it has been in power. All that it has done is to have led them up the garden path.