'How many OBCs in Rajiv Gandhi Foundation?': Sitharaman fires caste question back at Rahul Gandhi

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hit back at Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi for questioning the Centre for SC, ST, and OBC's participation in government policymaking. During his speech in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi showed a picture of the Halwa Ceremony, saying there was no SC, ST, or OBC in the photo. 

Sitharaman responded to the Wayanad MP, saying if his Congress governments in the past had acted on the recommendations of the Kalelkar Commission and Mandal Commission that recommended reservation for OBCs, officers from that community would have reached the secretary level. 

She quoted extensively from the speeches and interviews of former Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi, who opposed reservation. 

"Many of our MPs are talking about OBCs and SCs. First, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wrote on 27 June 1961 - 'I dislike any kind of reservation, more particularly in service. I react strongly against anything which leads to inefficiency and second-rate standards'," the finance minister said while replying to the discussion on the Budget 2024.  

"When the Kaka Kalelkar Commission's report came out in 1955 with recommendations, every Congress government since then sidelined it and didn’t think about the Backward Commission at all," she added. 

Sitharaman said that in 1980, the Mandal Commission report was submitted to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. "Even she did not touch it. Back then, the Congress slogan was - Na Jaat Par, Na Paat Par (Not on caste, not on creed). But now, it's being said - How many (OBC) people were in the photo, and how many (SC/ST) people were there? If you had implemented the reservation back then, OBC officers would have reached the secretary level by now," she said. 

The Finance Minister also quoted Rajiv Gandhi, who in an interview in March 1985 said: "No promotion of idiots in the name of reservation and that promoting idiots in the name of reservation would harm the entire country." 

Sitharaman said that Bhimrao Ambedkar resigned from the Nehru Cabinet after Congress had not taken action against the backward community. According to the finance minister, Ambedkar said: "I don't want to be in this (Cabinet) because there is no justice for the backward community. I will now refer to another matter that has made me dissatisfied with the government. It relates to the treatment accorded to the backward classes, the scheduled castes. I was very sorry that the Constitution did not embody any safeguards for the backward classes. It was left to be done by the executive government on the basis of recommendations of a commission to be appointed by the President. More than a year has elapsed since we passed the Constitution, but the government has not even thought of appointing the commission."

The Finance Minister then asked Rahul Gandhi how many OBCs were there on the Board of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. "Charity begins at home. What you are telling others to do, you should first do yourself. I am asking, how many SCs are there in the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation? How many OBCs are there? There are 9 people, but not a single SC. First, correct your system, give it to SCs, then come and ask us. In the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust, there are five people on the board of trustees, but I do not see a single SC."

Countering the LoP who called the traditional halwa ceremony a 'budget ka halwa', Sitharaman said it has been going on since budget papers were printed at a press on Minto Road. She said it is an emotional matter for the Finance Ministry staff who spend 5 nights and 4 days in quarantine to ensure the secrecy of the Budget proposals. "Halwa is an emotional and sentimental matter... How can you deal (with) such an important matter so lightly," Sitharaman said. 

Responding to Gandhi's remark that SC, ST, or OBC was seen in the halwa ceremony photo, the finance minister said it became a photo event from 2013-14 when the Finance Minister in the Congress-led UPA Government went to the cellar of North Block to distribute the customary pre-budget halwa. "Why was the halwa ceremony not cancelled at that time? You (Gandhi) had the remote control power. How many SC, ST or OBC officers were there at the ceremony at that time?" she questioned. 

Sitharaman said such statistical calculation of the caste of officers present at the halwa ceremony was not done earlier in the UPA regime. "...It is a conspiracy that is happening now and that is why this question is being asked now. Why divide people now by asking caste of everyone involved?," she asked.