BJP OBC morcha head K Laxman told ET the party will mobilise OBC groups across the country during these events that are being planned both at regional and state levels. These will involve influential members from OBC groups, booth-level workers and senior functionaries of the party among others.
“Not just the dominant groups, even people from OBC groups that have been ignored for long have told me how they will benefit from this. They all want to thank the PM. In UP, we have already drawn up the plan where we want to reach every district, and talk about how the BJP has worked hard for the representation of the OBC groups. Apart from reservation, many of our welfare schemes, particularly insurance schemes for weavers and benefits for people employed in agriculture, fishing and irrigation-related work have hugely benefited people from OBC groups. We will highlight all that,” he said.
For these events, the OBC morcha has listed over 75 moves made by BJP in the last seven years that it claims have improved the lives of OBC communities significantly. These include moves such as giving constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes, reservation for the OBC categories within the All India Quota for NEET, increasing the creamy layer limit from ₹6 lakh to ₹8 lakh and also easing the admissions of students from OBC communities to Kendriya Vidyalayas, Jawahar Navodyaya Vidyalayas and Sainik schools, among others.
Laxman alleged that Congress leaders had opposed the OBC quota recommended by the Mandal Commission and it was implemented after the Modi government came to power. “Also, we have 27 ministers from OBC groups heading important portfolios which itself shows how serious the party is about OBC representation.”
Political analyst AK Verma who heads the Centre for the Study of Society and Politics in Kanpur said it was only natural for the BJP to claim credit for the passing of the bill, but added that all parties will focus on OBC voters, at least in the context of upcoming UP elections.
“No party would like to be seen as anti-OBC. The opposition parties are aware of the sensitivity of the issue, ahead of the assembly elections in many states next year, which is why they may have opposed the politics of BJP but not the bill..But States through panchayats have always had access to details of their population of different castes..so it is not new, and the effort now should be to speed up sub categorisation to identify and help the groups that despite reservation have been left out of development,” he said.