As the Congress party grapples to formulate an effective response to neutralise the BJP’s diatribe against the Opposition for stalling constitutional amendments aimed at expediting women’s reservation rollout, it has another dilemma to tackle in Uttar Pradesh.
The two-day discussion in Lok Sabha last week on the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill saw Congress ally Samajwadi Party (SP) push for a sub-quota for Muslims within the reservations mandated in Lok Sabha and State Legislatures for women.
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The demand, spearheaded by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav himself, was clubbed with the Opposition’s wider campaign for carving out a quota-within-quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), but it was singled out for virulent criticism by the BJP.
BJP cites constitutional bar
If Union home minister Amit Shah had immediately snubbed Akhilesh and his cousin, Azamgarh MP Dharmendra Yadav, on the floor of the House for making a demand that was “constitutionally impermissible”, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath escalated the conflict on Sunday (April 19) by slamming the SP for “invoking the Constitution (for political gains) but working against the vision of Babasaheb Ambedkar.”
The BJP’s counterstrike at the SP is rooted in the mandate laid down under Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution, which prohibits the State from discriminating against any citizen “on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth” except while making special provisions for persons from the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs).
Tightrope walk for Congress
For the Congress, which had switched gears from resisting a ‘quota-within-quota’ for OBCs during the UPA-era to becoming its aggressive votary in 2023 when the ‘Naari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’ was enacted, the SP’s push for an additional Muslim sub-quota has created fresh problems.
On Saturday (April 18), with the BJP on an overdrive, accusing the Opposition of “stalling the early implementation of the women’s reservation”, the Grand Old Party had fielded Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi to rebut the ruling party’s charge.
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Hailed as the Congress’s most effective orator who is also adept at turning the tables on rivals with sharp ripostes, Priyanka, however, was visibly uneasy when asked whether her party backed the SP’s demand for a Muslim sub-quota. Sidestepping the question entirely, the Wayanad MP merely reiterated that the Opposition had demanded a sub-quota for OBCs and that “reservation has to be given commensurate with their (the OBC community’s) number”.
“Everyone knows religion-based reservation is prohibited under the Constitution. Even Akhilesh Yadav is aware. The SP’s demand is political because elections are due in UP in less than a year and Akhilesh can’t afford to have the over 20 per cent Muslim population in the state be fragmented between SP, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and others like Owaisi, who is already trying to expand the AIMIM in UP,” said a former Muslim MP of the Congress.
Cong faces political dilemma
The former MP added, “For us, the SP’s stand creates a major problem. In UP, we are in alliance with the SP and we are confident that the community will back us against the BJP like it did in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, but it will naturally also expect us to support the demand Akhilesh is raising. On the other hand, if we back Akhilesh, the BJP will certainly polarise the election on communal lines by saying we are trying to take away the share of SCs and STs and give it to Muslims for appeasement. The damage for us will not just be in Hindu-dominated seats of UP but also in other parts of the country, where the SP has no stakes.”
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Congress insiders also admitted that backing the SP’s demand would be a “major self-goal” given how stridently Lok Sabha’s Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has led his “Save Constitution” campaign against the BJP for the last few years. “You can’t demand something that the Constitution expressly forbids and then talk about Samvidhaan Bachao. Just see how Amit Shah immediately rejected Akhilesh’s demand in Lok Sabha, saying it is against the Constitution,” a Congress spokesperson told The Federal.
For the Congress, the challenge goes beyond UP. In an India deeply divided on communal lines over the past 12 years by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP’s relentlessly polarising rhetoric, the Congress’ so-called secular credentials may make it a natural choice for Muslim voters in states where the party doesn’t have to jostle with other regional players for the community’s votes. Yet, the BJP’s charge of Muslim appeasement has also shrunk the party’s appeal among the majority Hindus.
Muslim outreach weakens
The implications of this stark electoral reality have manifested themselves in the Congress’s political praxis. While the Congress continues to swear by secularism, there are either long silences or merely perfunctory protests from its leadership on issues directly or exclusively concerning Muslims; be it the BJP’s bid to demonise the community as “infiltrators”, chip away at their religious freedoms, target their places of worship or unleash Hindutva hotheads at them for their culinary choices.
The inability of the Congress to unequivocally speak up for Muslims and the party’s increasing reticence in granting the community an adequate share in organisational posts or candidature in polls has weakened the party’s electoral prospects both in states where regional players, including Congress allies, are able to consolidate their hold on the Muslim vote by addressing the community more directly and in states where the BJP is the Congress’s only major rival.
Congress’ vote bank
“The political environment that the BJP has created in the country today has made it very difficult for a national party like the Congress to take a strong stand for Muslims because we have to constantly worry about how the BJP will exploit it against us nationally. Regional parties like the SP, Trinamool Congress or RJD are still able to do so because they are able to combine other narratives like social justice, sub-nationalism or caste pride with secularism and do not have to worry about fighting the BJP nationally,” a senior leader explained, who is also a member of the Congress Working Committee and a former chief minister.
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“The Congress today has no exclusive hold over any caste vote, unlike the SP or the RJD, who still have their Yadav votebank intact. As a national party that has been weakened over decades because of regional parties that were either carved out of our party or those which came into existence to oppose us, we can’t bank on regional pride or sub-nationalism either. We are then left with the plank of secularism, which the BJP has successfully turned into a synonym for Muslim appeasement and so, even our practice of secular politics, our ability to speak up for minority rights, has taken a hit because our leadership thinks the BJP weaponises this against us,” the CWC member added.
Double-edged sword
In UP, the Congress believes that while the SP’s push for a Muslim sub-quota is a “double-edged sword even for Akhilesh”, backing it would “hit the Congress way more than it does the SP” in next year’s Assembly polls.
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“It is a big risk that even Akhilesh is taking because Modi and Yogi will use this to polarise voters against SP too but he, perhaps, thinks that the damage BJP will do can be limited among forward caste votes, as the SP has its PDA coalition (Akhilesh’s social coalition of backward castes – pichhdaDalits and a very flexible A that the SP chief variously describes as Aadhi Aaabadi or women voters, Alpsankhyak or minorities or even early caste or forward castes),” said a UP Congress functionary.
“We will be hit far worse because, unlike the SP, we do not have a vote bank, strong organisation or leadership in the state. We are still dependent on the alliance with the SP to help us win. The SP’s social base among Yadavs and other backward castes and its organisational strength also helps it make up for any loss of Muslim votes in seats where other parties also field Muslim candidates, but this doesn’t apply to us,” said the party leader.
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