Congress manifesto promises more judges from all minority communities, not just Muslims

What is the claim?

A short video uploaded to Facebook and YouTube claims that the Congress in its manifesto for the 2024 general elections in India has promised to “appoint more judges belonging to the Muslim community to the high courts and the Supreme Court.”

The man in the video adds that the Congress has “assured to strengthen the autonomy of commissions of Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), minorities and Other Backward Classes (OBC).” Questioning this proposal, he goes on to say in Telugu — a language widely spoken in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana — that the Hindu community must be aware of this development. At the time of writing this check, the video had garnered over 39,000 views. An archive of this post can be found here.

This claim was also shared on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) and an archive of such a post can be found here. 

Screenshots of the claims made online (Source:X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, this statement is misleading. Congress' manifesto does not specify any one community. It say that "persons belonging to the SC, ST, OBC and minorities will be appointed as judges." 

What are the facts?

We went through the manifesto released by the Indian National Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. A keyword search within the manifesto called ‘Nyay Patra' (Justice Letter) led us to the section ‘Judiciary,’ where the party has promised specific action points for the judicial system in the country.

Point five under this section reads, “More women and persons belonging to the SC (Scheduled Castes), ST (Scheduled Tribes), OBC (Other Backward Classes) and minorities will be appointed as judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court.” 

Action point on appointment of more judges to the high courts and Supreme Court. (Source: Congress Manifesto)

We scoured through the document with the words ‘Muslim’ and ‘judges’ but found no statement, as claimed in the viral post. Further, we found no reference or evidence of any Congress leader speaking on the manifesto that mentions the appointment of Muslim judges.

A report published in The Indian Express on April 6 also makes a mention of this and notes that the manifesto promises to appoint more women and persons belonging to the SC, ST, OBC and minorities as the judges of the high courts and the Supreme Court.  

It is imperative to note that the Ministry of Minority Affairs states that Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jain, and Zoroastrians (Parsis) constitute the minority communities in India. All these communities have been notified as minority communities under Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.

The verdict

The Congress manifesto does not say that more judges will be appointed only from the Muslim community. The manifesto promises more women judges, and judges from marginalized communities and minorities.