“Casteist’ Bihar decimates Congress as voters reject Rahul’s caste census and ‘vote chori’ pitch”, The Sunday Guardian, November 14, 2025
“Bihar’s verdict is not just a landslide for the NDA—projected to cross 205 seats—but a blunt rejection of the Congress party’s national political strategy. With the party collapsing toward a historic low of just four seats (at 4 pm) in the 243-member Assembly, the results amount to a direct repudiation of the two planks Rahul Gandhi had placed at the centre of his politics: a nationwide caste census and the allegation of “vote chori” (vote theft).
The irony is stark. Gandhi had positioned the caste census and the slogan “jitni abadi, utna haq” as the backbone of his messaging. Bihar, with its layered caste matrix, was supposed to be the ideal proving ground. The state’s 2023 caste survey—showing 84.5% of the population as OBC, EBC, SC, or ST—gave the Congress what it believed was a ready-made socio-political majority. The party assumed this 84.5% bloc would consolidate behind its justice-and-representation pitch.
Although the Bihar caste survey shows that OBCs, EBCs, SCs and STs together make up around 84% of the population, this figure is not separate from the state’s religious composition. Muslims, who account for 17.7% of Bihar’s population, are distributed within these caste categories—most Pasmanda Muslims fall under OBC or EBC, while a smaller section, such as Syeds, are counted as ‘General.’ In other words, the 84% figure already includes a large share of Muslims, and does not sit outside or in addition to the state’s religious breakdown…….”
Read full article at sundayguardianlive.com
