Rahul Gandhi has finally woken up to the importance of OBCs

Rahul Gandhi addressed a national OBC (Other Backward Castes) meet on Monday. While a lot of attention was focused on his rather unusual examples to illustrate the need to open up the system and help those who possess real skills, the political importance of the event lay elsewhere. OBCs constitute a deeply heterogeneous social formation, with a maze of castes and sub-castes across the country. The story of Indian politics in recent decades has been the substantial shift in power towards OBC groups. This began after the Green Revolution, as agrarian groups began developing economic heft in the late 1960s. It deepened with socialist parties politically mobilising a section of the landed peasantry -- many of whom were from OBC groups -- in the 1970s. The assertion grew with the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations, reserving jobs for OBCs in government in the late 1980s. From being supplementary political players, OBC caste groups such as the Yadavs became the dominant, ruling, political players in battleground states Uttar Pradesh and Bihar from the 1990s. Contradictions then emerged within OBCs when the less dominant began feeling alienated, and found a home in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). With Prime Minister Narendra Modi projected as a backward leader, a key reason for the party’s 2014 success was the enormous support it received from OBCs in north and west India in particular.

In this story of OBC empowerment, the party which has been missing almost entirely is the Congress. And while some explanations of Congress decline may centre around leadership, organisation and record in government, this has been a critical reason for the party’s electoral decline. The Congress’s old social coalition in north India rested on three broad social groups -- upper castes, Brahmans in particular; Dalits and Muslims. In the 1990s, with Hindutva mobilisation, upper castes moved to BJP; with Dalit assertion, the community began seeing Mayawati in UP and to a lesser degree Ram Vilas Paswan in Bihar as attractive options; and Muslims moved to Mulayam Singh and Lalu Prasad. Even as its core base faded, the Congress was unable to make any inroads among OBCs -- whose loyalties are now divided between socialist parties and the BJP.

The BJP has now promised the sub-categorisation of OBCs to give the less dominant among them -- their supporters -- additional advantage. It is in this backdrop that Rahul Gandhi has finally woken up to the importance of this wide social group. With his examples of skills and entrepreneurship, he was attempting to frame their aspirations in a new economic language. The Congress’s outreach has come late. For it to resonate in 2019 will be an enormous challenge.