On 13th March, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi used a speech on the Constitution and social representation to claim that Apollo Hospitals does not have even one Dalit, OBC or Adivasi doctor. Gandhi was addressing a “Samvidhan Sammelan” at the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan in Lucknow.
While invoking BR Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram, he claimed that slogans and demands alone could not bring political change and called for “organisation and an ideological struggle”. He also cited Kanshi Ram’s pen analogy, which states that the privileged 15% represented its cap, while the remaining 85% formed the pen.
Gandhi claimed that this “85%” was absent from positions of power across the judiciary, Cabinet, bureaucracy, educational institutions and corporate India.
Gandhi turns surnames into caste certificates
He asked his followers to examine the CEOs and senior management of India’s 500 largest companies, claiming they would not find a single Dalit, Adivasi, backward-class or minority name. He extended the allegation to suppliers working with the Adani Group, which has been a target of Congress for over a decade.
Gandhi then asked his followers visiting private hospitals to read doctors’ names. Naming Apollo, he declared that they would not find one Dalit, backward-class or Adivasi doctor there.
However, he cited no caste audit, employment record, survey or list to support the absolute claim. Apollo’s public directory lists over 3,200 doctors and displays qualifications, specialisations, experience, languages and hospital locations. It does not disclose caste. A surname also cannot reliably establish a person’s caste across India’s different regions and communities.
Gandhi effectively asked his followers to assign castes to thousands of professionals by looking at their names and then accept the assumption as fact.
Reacting to his statement, Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India Mahesh Jethmalani urged people not to make the stethoscope the next victim of Gandhi’s caste arithmetic. He said, “The stethoscope cannot become the next victim of Rahul Gandhi’s caste arithmetic. CANNOT. You are corroding trust in the very people asked to save lives. Rahul’s hospital remark is dangerous politics. Do not drag healthcare into caste arithmetic and make Indians wonder whether medicine too must now be judged by quota optics over merit. A doctor is not a caste category. A doctor is a life-saving professional. Politics that blurs that line is reckless beyond words.”
The stethoscope cannot become the next victim of Rahul Gandhi’s caste arithmetic. CANNOT. You are corroding trust in the very people asked to save lives.
— Mahesh Jethmalani (@JethmalaniM) March 14, 2026
Rahul’s hospital remark is dangerous politics. Do not drag healthcare into caste arithmetic and make Indians wonder whether… pic.twitter.com/rc3GWImnNP
Constitution does not say what Gandhi attributed to it
After the Apollo allegation, Rahul Gandhi said the Constitution declares “one man, one vote” and “jitni abaadi, utni bhagidari”. The Constitution guarantees equality, prohibits caste discrimination by the State and permits affirmative action in specified areas. It does not contain the latter slogan or mandate population-proportionate caste representation in every private hospital and company. Article 16 specifically concerns employment or appointment to offices under the State.
Gandhi contrasted these institutions with MGNREGA lists and construction workers, claiming the same 85% would be found there in overwhelming numbers. He argued that shrinking public-sector companies, hospitals, universities and small businesses had closed routes through which marginalised communities earlier entered professional and management positions.
He concluded by promising a caste census and representation for Dalits, OBCs, Adivasis, extremely backward classes and minorities in India’s “power structure”. Representation can be debated, but categorical allegations against a hospital network or a private-sector company require verifiable data, not caste profiling through surnames.
Many surnames associated with an upper caste in one state or community may belong to a Scheduled Caste or Other Backward Class (OBC) in another. In several cases, even a slight difference in spelling may refer to a different community or alter how the name appears in official caste lists. Assuming someone’s caste solely from their name can therefore create confusion, encourage caste profiling and subject individuals to unwarranted scrutiny. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s claims about Apollo’s doctors and corporate executives cannot be established merely by reading their names.
