Jagmohan Sharma
Indian National Congress in its election manifesto for 2024 Parliamentary Elections titled the “Nyaya Patra” has come up with the idea of caste-based census in the country. The idea behind the purported exercise is that the political, administrative and economic power as well as the resources of the country should be divided amongst the people of the country based upon their population.
That is not all, the Congress party promises that the jobs in the private and the govt sector as well as the positions in the State Legislatures, the Parliament and other civic bodies shall be reserved for the people of the country based upon the numerical strength of the castes.
The “Nyaya Patra” also promises “affirmative action” for several sections of the society based upon their caste, social, cultural and economic position once the caste-based census is completed in a particular time frame.
A look at the “Nyay Patra” and listening to the subsequent public statements by Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Sam Pitroda and other Congress party leaders it is very clear that the idea behind the caste census is to divide the Sanatan/Hindu society along the caste lines while consolidating the Muslim votes and use them as a vote bank for benefit of the Congress party.
Will it help the Congress party or not is a different matter, but the idea is highly divisive and shall have far reaching consequences for the unity and integrity of the Indian civilization and the Nation.
We already have a beautiful country that experimented with such a sectarian division of power and finally landed in the mess that it is now. This country doesn’t have a President since October 2022, because their fragmented system and divided Parliament could not elect one. Even the Prime Minister they have is an acting Prime Minister and not a regular one.
Added to this is the fact that the country is embroiled in a sectarian war and has become the battle ground for the Iranians, Syrians, US, Saudi Arabia, Hezbollah, Israel – both directly and indirectly.
The beautiful country that I am referring to is Lebanon, the capital of which, Beirut, was called the Paris of the Middle East in its hey days!
Lebanon is probably the only country in the world that toyed with the idea of “Jis ki jitni aabadi, uski utni hissedari” (as much is one’s population, that much is one’s partnership) and implemented it in letter and spirit.
The modern-day Lebanon came into being after the end of World War -1 and dissolution of Ottoman Empire. It came under the mandate of France, but subsequent to the second world war in which Germany invaded France in 1940 Lebanon became a free country in 1943. Lebanon, though, attained freedom from “free France” and subsequently established a distinct form of “confessional government”, with the countries major religious groups being apportioned specific political powers. The division of power was not only limited to the followers of the major religions of Lebanon but was further assigned to the sectarian groups within the particular religion too. This is literally the same formula as is proposed by INC for India in its manifesto. This is probably for the first time that politics and religion/caste are being deliberately intertwined in India.
It may be mentioned that the major religions of Lebanon at the time of independence as well as of now are Christians and Muslims, however the population of Christians has dwindled considerably overtime and that of the Muslims has risen. The increase in Muslim population has also been because of the influx of thousands of Palestinians during 1948 and later 1967 war into the country that changed the demographic profile of the nation. The uncontrolled borders have also been responsible for this influx.
At the time of independence of Lebanon in 1943 the seats in the country’s parliament were divided amongst the religions/sects of the country based upon their population. This arrangement of division of power and other resources based upon the population of a particular religion/sect continued for some time, but because of the conflicting interests of the stake holders and not being able to come to a conclusion on crucial national issues a civil war ensued between 1975 and 1990. In fact, instability in the country had already started from the times of Suez Canal crisis of 1956 when the Lebanese Christian president did not criticize the western powers for their role in the crisis to the chagrin of Lebanese Muslims.
The civil war came to an end after Taif agreement in 1989 and the change in demographics of Lebanon was recognised from the fact that the number of seats in the National Parliament were raised from 99 to 128. Christians, who had 54 seats reserved for them in 1943 were allocated 64 seats while the seats for Muslims rose from 45 to 64. It is interesting to note that the sects within these religions too had fixed number of seats in the Parliament. For example, amongst the Christians the Maronite Catholics have 30 seats now, the Eastern Orthodox 11 seats, Melkites 6 seats, Armenians Orthodox 4 seats and Armenian Catholics, Protestants and other minority Christians one seat each.
Similarly, amongst the Muslims, the Sunnis have 20 seats, Shias have 19 seats and Druz have 6 seats.
The question that arises is whether Lebanon is a stable country with the kind of formula regarding division of power that they have adopted for running their nation? The answer is an emphatic no.
Indian National Congress in general & Rahul Gandhi in particular must keep the example of this beautiful country that is now ruined before embarking on the formula of “Jis ki jitni aabadi, us ki utni bhagidari.”
Rahul Gandhi must remember that as per division of power formula in force, along sectarian lines, in Lebanon the Lebanese President has necessarily to be a Maronite Christian, whom they have not been able to elect since October 2022, the PM has to be a Sunni Muslim and the present incumbent though a Sunni Muslim is a temporary one and only God knows of the Shia speaker of the parliament is in place or not. These divisions are further extended to the allocation of jobs and other social and economic activities too.
At the same time the country has turned into a battlefield once again.
The other consequences are that the talented Lebanese citizens, especially Christians have left the country with huge economic and social loss to the country.
“Jiski jitni aabadi, us ke utni bhagidari” may sound to be a good communist slogan, but Lebanon has proved that its consequences are disastrous. And where does Rahul Gandhi find himself in this formula of his considering that Zoroastrian (Parsi) population in India is just 0.06%?
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