The paradox of representation without power

We should not forget that people have got all their rights from the Constitution. Before that, rajas and maharajas used to rule India. Today, if the common people, the poor, the Dalits and the tribals have a voice, it is because of our Constitution. We have to protect it at all costs.” This was Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, at a recent ‘Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan’ held in Patna. On 26 January this year, India marks the 75th anniversary of becoming a Republic that tethered its future to that Constitution. Much has been written and said in praise of that remarkably enlightened document, but we, the people of India, have failed to keep faith with its sacred pledges.

The Preamble reads:

We, the People of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute

India into a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation

Who would imagine, looking at the India we live in today, looking at what’s going on in Sambhal, for instance, or how Muslims are being kept out of the ongoing Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj [see ‘No one will be spared’ (NH, 19 January) and ‘Hold your breath, the Kumbh is nigh’ (NH, 12 January)] that this is the path we promised to walk? Who would imagine that the regime that spews hatred for the minorities, the people who think of Dalits and Adivasis not as citizens with the same rights as everyone else but as mere votes would ‘solemnly affirm’ to ‘bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India’ when they take their oath of office?

Ahead of the 2024 general election, BJP leaders spoke openly of their intention to change the Constitution to declare India a Hindu Rashtra.

They spoke of a ‘400-paar’ brute majority in the Lok Sabha that would pave the way for this drastic overhaul. Mercifully, the Opposition was able to flag the danger effectively enough for the people to push back hard. In Uttar Pradesh, where nearly everyone thought the BJP will make a near-clean sweep, the party was reduced to 33 of 80 seats (The INDIA bloc had 43 seats and the BJP-led NDA 36, down 30 seats from 2019!).

For a while it looked like the BJP had sensed it had gone too far. We saw the prime minister making a televised show of bowing to the very same Constitution his party is determined to undermine. But the pretence faded quickly, and more recently, the party has returned to its openly divisive ways, with ample assistance from the judiciary, the media, the bureaucracy and other arms of the State.

The by-election to the Milkipur assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh is also scheduled on 5 February — the same day as Delhi. It is a reserved seat with a significant Dalit voter base. Milkipur falls under the Ayodhya Lok Sabha constituency, where the Samajwadi Party defeated the BJP in the recent general election. In this by-election, the opposition has once again brought to the fore the same ‘Save the Constitution’ narrative that put the BJP on the mat in the Lok Sabha. The ruling party, finding itself in a bind, has tried to counter this by distributing copies of the Constitution. But among the country’s backward communities, the OBCs, Dalits and Adivasis, who seem to be thronging the Samvidhan Sammelans, the sense that their constitutional protections are under threat is palpable.

To this lot, Rahul Gandhi has been trying to explain that while they may even have got political representation they have still been systematically kept out of power. MPs and MLAs, Gandhi points out, do not wield real power, they do not take the decisions that shape the lives of people. It shows, he explains, in their poor representation in decision-making positions. The bureaucracy is not just a permanent pillar of India’s power structure and governance; bureaucrats actively shape the policy decisions of governments.

The bureaucracy is also responsible for the implementation of various government schemes. Two years ago, minister of state Jitendra Singh informed Parliament that between 2017 and 2022, the government had recruited 2,163 IAS officers, 1,403 IPS officers and 709 officers in the Indian Forest Service. Of these recruits, OBCs accounted for 15.9 per cent, Dalits 7.7 per cent and tribals 3.8 per cent — all figures significantly lower than the 27 per cent posts reserved for OBCs, 15 per cent for Dalits and 7.5 per cent for tribals in central services.

The disparity becomes even more stark at higher levels of bureaucracy. As of December 2022, there were 322 senior bureaucrats in the country, of whom only 16 were Dalits, 13 tribals and 39 OBCs. At the secretary level, a meagre 4 per cent of bureaucrats are from Dalit or tribal backgrounds; at the joint secretary level, a slightly higher 4.9 per cent.

Contrast this with data from the 2021–22 Periodic Labour Force Survey, which revealed that Dalits made up a third of all casual labourers and three-quarters of sanitation workers, highlighting the structural inequalities that persist in the distribution of power and opportunity.

Universities and educational institutions reflect the same disparity.

In central universities, for which data is more easily available, only 6.9 per cent of professors are Dalits, while tribals account for 1.5 per cent and OBCs 4.1 per cent. At the associate professor level, Dalits account for 7.2 per cent of all posts, tribals 2.3 per cent and OBCs 4.9 per cent. A large number of reserved posts remain vacant. In 45 central universities, 41.6 per cent of posts reserved for Dalits and 38.7 per cent reserved for tribals in all categories remain vacant.

At the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), 39.4 per cent of positions reserved for Dalits, 57.9 per cent for tribals and 43.7 per cent for OBCs are vacant, highlighting the systemic exclusion of marginalised communities from academic leadership in the 56 central universities.

Data from two years ago shows that only two university registrars were Dalit, five were tribals and three from an OBC community.

The private sector constitutes the largest segment of the Indian economy but there is no organised data on employment and the representation of different communities at different levels. There is, of course, no reservation either.

As for industry, the 2020–21 annual report of the department of micro, small and medium enterprises showed that Dalits owned 12.5 per cent of micro businesses and just 5.5 per cent of small industries.

A deep sense of deprivation and marginalisation has intensified among these sections of society. Many fear their constitutional guarantees are slipping away. These disparities persist even though Dalits, Adivasis and the other backward classes now have significant political representation. While affirmative action policies may have ensured their presence in legislatures, they have little to no influence in real decision-making.

These facts and statistics lend credence to the fundamental paradox Rahul Gandhi is trying to highlight — that these communities may have representation but they have no real power.

Political representation alone will not translate to their empowerment if systemic barriers prevent them from exercising real influence in bureaucracy, industry, the academia and other spheres of public life.

Views are personal. More of Herjinder's writing may be read here.