When rahul Gandhi declared, “You will not see OBCs and Dalits as news anchors on tv channels,” he wasn’t exaggerating—he was dropping a truth bomb on India’s media landscape.
A closer look at India’s most powerful tv newsrooms reveals an overwhelming upper-caste monopoly. Despite OBCs making up over 40% of India’s population and Dalits around 16%, they are almost invisible on prime-time news desks.
Here’s the breakdown 👇
1. The rahul Gandhi Attack 🔥
His statement isn’t new—he flagged the same issue in 2024.
But now, his charge hits harder because it’s backed by research from Oxfam and Newslaundry, which confirms near-zero OBC/Dalit representation among anchors.
2. The Brahmin-Dominated Screens 📺
A quick scan of top anchors shows an unmistakable caste pattern:
Arnab Goswami (Brahmin)
Rajat Sharma (Brahmin)
Anjana Om Kashyap (Brahmin)
Rajdeep Sardesai (Brahmin)
Chitra Tripathi (Brahmin)
Amish Devgan (Brahmin)
rahul Kanwal (Brahmin)
Sudhir Chaudhary (Brahmin)
Ravish Kumar (Bhumihar – upper caste)
3. Other Upper-Caste Anchors in the Mix
Sweta Singh (Kayastha)
Sumit Awasthi (Kayastha)
Barkha Dutt (Brahmin)
Rubika Liyaquat (Muslim minority, but not Dalit/OBC)
Faye D’Souza (Christian minority, but again not Dalit/OBC)
Karan Thapar, Prannoy Roy, nidhi Razdan, vikram Chandra, Sreenivasan Jain (all upper caste).
4. The Missing Voices ❌
Zero SC/ST anchors in mainstream national TV.
Minimal OBC presence—some representation on state-owned Sansad TV, but none on high-TRP private news channels.
This absence means that over half of India’s population has no face, no voice in national tv journalism.
5. Why This Matters
media is supposed to be the fourth pillar of democracy—but when its gatekeepers belong overwhelmingly to privileged castes, coverage inevitably skews.
Issues of caste discrimination, reservation, rural poverty, and Dalit atrocities rarely get the same urgency as celebrity gossip or “Hindu-Muslim” shouting matches.
6. Rahul Gandhi’s Knockout Punch 👊
By naming this reality, rahul Gandhi exposed what viewers subconsciously knew but never saw quantified: Godi media is not just biased politically, it’s structurally casteist.
🚨 Final Verdict: A media Without Representation is a media Without Credibility
When 60% of India’s population (OBC + Dalit) can’t find a single anchor who looks like them or shares their background, democracy is not just compromised—it’s hijacked.
rahul Gandhi’s attack is less an insult to the media and more a wake-up call: indian journalism must look like India, or it will remain nothing more than an echo chamber for the privileged few.
click and follow Indiaherald WhatsApp channel