Congress’ social justice plank finds Chhattisgarh a tough battleground

Although social justice has emerged as a key plank in the Congress’ Lok Sabha campaign nationwide, the theme is put to a stern test in Chhattisgarh despite the backward classes forming a decisive majority. 

Apart from the many economic promises and caste survey, the Congress has also promised to increase reservation beyond 50%. While the Congress alleges that the BJP seeks 400 plus seats in the Lok Sabha election because it wants to tamper the Constitution and end reservations, the BJP has attempted to change the narrative by claiming that it was indeed the Congress that was snatching the rights of Dalits, tribals, and backward classes to give reservation to Muslims.  

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But even before the this whole debate on the “Muslim” quota began, the Congress has had limited impact in taking the social justice message to the intended beneficiaries. With seven of the 11 constituencies - including some tribal and SC-reserved seats - still to go for polls, the acceptability of issues such as Ram Temple and Article 370 besides religious conversion, the clout of Prime Minister Narendra Modi which towers over the BJP candidates, and the lingering questions emanating from last year’s Assembly elections are all posing a challenge to the strategy.  

Party sources said that apart from relaying the message through speeches and approaching voters to “fill guarantee cards”, it has also nudged social organisations in tribal areas to conduct meetings and explain its position on reservations. 

Observers such as political commentator Alok Putul, however, say that apart from the ₹1 lakh promise through survey forms, the party has not done enough to carry and deconstruct complicated issues such as Constitution and reservations to the masses to the last mile.

“There are many first-time voters who say they want to vote for Hindu Rashtra, notwithstanding the serious implications of such an idea. This shows the effective delivery of the Bharatiya Janata Party in comparison. Similarly themes like Ram Temple or Article 370 are also trumping the social justice plank because the marginalised see a common cause,” he says. 

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Congress leaders differ on this perception.  

“I feel we have been able to take the message that the BJP and the RSS want to change the Constitution and abolish reservations to the grassroots. This is also reflecting in the speeches of the Prime Minister where he is forced to defend his party’s position on reservations,” Chandan Yadav, the National Secretary of the Indian National Congress (INC) in charge of Chattisgarh, says.

Political commentator Harsh S. Dubey points out how during the 2023 Assembly elections, too, the party had promised caste survey but it didn’t go well for the party. “There is no buzz among voters in the Lok Sabha election as well, in comparison to BJP’s national narrative,” Mr. Dubey says.  

In the elections, the BJP sprang a surprise by returning to power, largely due to the shift in the tribal belts of Surguja and Bastar where the Congress suffered heavy setbacks at the hands of the BJP. 

Some had even attributed it to a counter polarisation of the tribals against an OBC-focussed politics of the Congress. That Vishnu Deo Sai, a tribal, was picked as the Chief Minister by the BJP is also a factor that its leaders mention in their speeches. 

Mr. Yadav contests these assertions. “We did well in the OBC- and SC-dominated areas of the plains. Of course there could be some contradictions but such inter and intra-community contradictions exist everywhere. I feel the backward sections of the State find a common cause in reservations and social justice against Hindutva politics,” he says. He also says that caste survey had helped the party win elections in other States, including Karanataka, where the party mentioned the term for the first time. 

“Also caste census is a part of the social justice narrative. Unless you know the numbers, how would you take affirmative actions. I think the BJP has no answer to that,” he says. 

Sushil Anand Shukla, the party spokesperson, reminds that the party had brought in Reservation Amendment Bills which already provisioned for over 50% quota. “But the Governor is yet to give approval and the new BJP government has done nothing in that direction,” he says.