Congress eyeing social justice as 'antidote' to 'fading Hindutva' for 2024 Lok Sabha elections

The Congress could pitch for the removal of the 50 per cent quota cap that could lead to proportional reservation along with a caste census.

After the Karnataka elections where the Congress unveiled its ‘Jitna Abadi, Utna Haq’ agenda, the grand old party appears to be making social justice the “central pillar” for its 2024 campaign with a pitch for the removal of the 50 per cent quota cap that could lead to proportional reservation along with a caste census.

Congress sources said it is the “perfect antidote” to the BJP's “fading Hindutva” especially when the gap between the dominant and backward communities is “widening”. This would be a point of discussion at the Opposition meetings starting from June 23, they said.

A firm indication for the poll pitch came as Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot too joined the chorus for a caste census last week, taking a cue from the success the Congress achieved in Karnataka after top leader Rahul Gandhi unveiled the campaign with the caste census at its core and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge following it up with a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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Party leaders are working out the contours of the poll plank and reaching out to other Opposition parties for a coordinated campaign on social justice.

Earlier in March this year, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK supremo M K Stalin hosted Opposition parties for a social justice meet where the demand for a caste census was supported by them.

The Congress followed it up with an elaborate plan which Rahul announced when he also added proportional reservation and removed the quota cap which is presently at 50 per cent. It was in Karnataka’s Kolar where Rahul came up with the 'Jitna Abadi, Utna Haq' (representation as per population) slogan.

With crucial Assembly elections slated for year-end, sources said, the party units in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana are finetuning their strategy and the party's central leadership is all set to increase the decibel levels on the demand for removing the 50 per cent cap on reservations to enable more OBCs get the benefit of quota regime.

It also wants the reservation for Dalits and tribals to be increased to match their population. However, the party is not planning to make their state governments announce state based caste censuses after the Patna High Court nixed Bihar government's plans and owing to less time for conducting it.

In its Karnataka manifesto, the Congress has promised to increase the quota ceiling from 50 per cent, which was set by Supreme Court in Indira Sawhney case, to 75 per cent as the party intends to move from a representative quota regime to a proportional one. Incidentally, the 50 per cent ceiling has effectively been breached with the introduction of the 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections (EWS), which was cleared by the apex court.

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The focus of the Congress and the other Opposition on OBCs comes as the BJP had successfully wooed the communities in the past two general elections.

For the Congress to sell the plan is not a difficult task as many of its allies like DMK, RJD and JD(U) sealed their prominence in the country's political space through the social justice plank. Interestingly, the Congress has also moved to the other end of the pole compared to its stand in early 1990s when its leaders and supporters were part of the anti-Mandal agitation.

A senior leader said it is a return of the 'Mandal-Kamandal' politics of 1990s when the BJP used Hindutva politics to counter the pro-quota parties, which had based their politics on caste and social justice.