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New Delhi: Dalit organisations and groups representing Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe employees have questioned the Congress party’s commitment to social justice, arguing that its intervention in the Ankita Bhandari case and the participation of senior party leaders in the India Gate protest raise questions about the consistency of its political position.
In an open letter dated 15 October addressed to the Congress leadership, the organisations questioned whether social justice was a consistent principle guiding the party or a political instrument invoked when it served its interests. The letter argues that constitutional morality and social justice should not become tools of political convenience.
The organisations that have expressed concern are the SAIL SC & ST Employees Federation, New Delhi; the Dr B.R. Ambedkar Volleyball Club, Hyderabad; the SC Hakkula Porata Sangam, Telangana; the NBCC SC/ST Employees Welfare Association, New Delhi; and the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Retired Employees Association, Bhopal.
Ankita Bhandari, a 19-year-old receptionist at the Vanantara resort in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district, was murdered in September 2022. Her body was recovered from a canal after she went missing. Resort owner Pulkit Arya, son of former BJP leader Vinod Arya, and two employees, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta, were convicted in the case and sentenced to life imprisonment in May 2025.
The case returned to the national spotlight following renewed allegations concerning an alleged VIP purportedly connected to the circumstances surrounding her murder. Ankita’s parents have sought a halt to the appointment of BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam as Governor of Sikkim until the Central Bureau of Investigation completes its probe into the alleged VIP angle. Her family has raised Gautam’s name in connection with the allegations, which he has denied. He has also initiated defamation proceedings over the claims. The allegations against him have not been established as facts.
The controversy intensified on Wednesday evening when Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joined Ankita’s parents at India Gate, where the family was protesting against Gautam’s appointment and demanding that it be put on hold pending the CBI investigation.
The protest continued overnight. Delhi Police detained Ankita’s parents and several Congress leaders around 4 am on Thursday. They were subsequently released. Congress leaders criticised the police action, saying the demonstrators were seeking justice for Ankita.
Against this backdrop, the organisations’ letter states that a party which routinely invokes constitutional morality must demonstrate consistency in its own political conduct.
“Our objection is not to democratic protest, public scrutiny or institutional accountability. It is to the selective invocation of principles that ought to apply universally,” the letter states.
Invoking the legacy of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the organisations said generations of Ambedkarite movements had struggled for equality before the law, institutional accountability and the substantive realisation of social justice. These principles, they argued, could not be reduced to political vocabulary or applied selectively.
The letter calls on the Congress leadership to reflect on the perception that its commitment to social justice becomes most visible when a controversy offers an opportunity to challenge political opponents.
“Social justice cannot be selective. Constitutional morality cannot be convenient. And Babasaheb Ambedkar’s legacy cannot be reduced to a partisan instrument,” it states.
The organisations have called on the Congress leadership to reflect on its political conduct and demonstrate a consistent commitment to equality, constitutional principles and institutional responsibility.