Uproar in India over Rahul Gandhi’s call for lower caste winners in beauty pageants

“I have checked the list of Miss India, which did not have any Dalit, Adivasi [tribal] or OBC [Other Backward Castes] women. Some will talk about cricket or Bollywood. No one will show the cobbler or plumber,” he told a conference honouring India’s Constitution on Saturday.

“Even top anchors in the media are not from the 90 per cent,” he claimed. India could not hope to be called a superpower until such weaker sections representing 90 per cent of the population were represented in all walks of life, Gandhi argued.

India’s Minister of Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju was quick to rebuke Gandhi, highlighting that the country’s President Droupadi Murmu hailed from a tribal family and the surname of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has links to Other Backward Castes, with several cabinet ministers sharing similar backgrounds.

“Now, he [Gandhi] wants reservations in Miss India competitions, films, sports! It is not only an issue of ‘Bal Budhi’ [immature thinking], but people who cheer him are equally responsible too!” Rijiju posted on social media X. “Childish wit may be good for entertainment but don’t make fun of backward communities in your divisive tactics,” he said in Hindi.

India has produced a string of international pageant winners in recent decades including three Miss Universe crowns, six Miss World crowns and one Miss Earth crown. Several winners have gone on to star in Bollywood.

The political debate over the representation of lower castes came in the wake of a recent order by India’s Supreme Court to expand caste-based reservations for education and jobs, which has reinforced a long-standing opposition demand to conduct a caste-based census to improve inclusiveness.

India’s constitution requires government jobs and state-run