© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The Maharashtra BJP could not have not known it, but its announcement of an OBC rally across the state’s Vidarbha district couldn’t have asked for a better timing. The announcement of the yatra, that began from Sevagram in Wardha, a district associated with Mahatma Gandhi, on his birth anniversary Monday, came hours before the release of the Bihar caste survey report putting OBC numbers at 63% in the state, and adding urgency to calls to give them better representation.
The BJP is hoping that its ‘Jagar Yatra’ will now embellish its OBC credentials, at a time when it is trying to balance their demands with the growing clamour for Maratha reservation.
The yatra will criss-cross all the 11 districts of Vidarbha, covering 10 Lok Sabha and 62 Assembly seats, and will be led by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule. OBCs are a dominant force in Vidarbha.
The BJP has been struggling to get on top of the Maratha issue, since an indefinite fast by activist Manoj Jarasange Patil and a crackdown on protesters seeking quota, brought the simmering issue back to the fore. The Eknath Shinde-led government’s announcement that it would consider the issuance of Kunbi certificates to the Marathas, if they could produce certificates from the Nizam era, to help them enjoy OBC benefits, has seen a counter-protest by the OBCs.
The backward classes fear that this might mean shrinking of their share in the 19% reservation pie for OBCs.
While OBCs are a big vote base for the BJP in Maharashtra, like in other parts of the country, the party does not have strong Maratha faces. The alliance with Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction and Ajit Pawar-led NCP wing were both attempts to fill the gap, as the two are Maratha leaders.
After Vidarbha, the party may hold a second phase of the Jagar Yatra (awareness yatra) in the Marathwada region, details of which are being worked out.
Bawankule said the BJP wants to underline that its governments in the state and at the Centre have implemented “several welfare schemes for the holistic growth and development of OBCs”. The yatra would also help dispel false apprehensions, he said. “The BJP is committed to safeguarding the existing OBC quota in Maharashtra. It will not allow its dilution in any form.”
The OBCs are a base the BJP has carefully won over in Maharashtra. In the 1980s, party ideologue Vasantrao Bhagwat advocated for reaching out to the Mali, Dhangar and Vanjari communities to shed BJP predecessor Jana Sangh’s image of a “trader”, “upper-caste” party.
The decision to focus on the OBCs was tactical to make inroads into a state controlled by the Congress, which enjoyed the support of the numerically dominant Marathas.
The Vidarbha region is now home to several BJP heavyweights – including Fadnavis (an MLA from Nagpur South West) and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari (an MP from Nagpur).
Since the promise to Marathas regarding reservation under the Kunbi umbrella, Fadnavis has visited Chandrapur and Nagpur several times to personally appeal to OBC leaders to trust the BJP.
The BJP anxiety over the Maratha issue comes on top of the party’s declining support in Vidarbha. In the 2014 polls, the BJP had won 44 of its 62 Assembly seats and six of its 10 Lok Sabha seats; in 2019, it came down to 29 Assembly and four Lok Sabha seats.
One prominent reason was seen to be the OBC Teli community’s anger over a ticket being denied to Bawankule.
The Shinde government’s assurance of a Kunbi certificate may have temporarily stopped the Maratha protests, but the demand could shore up again.
The state Backward Class Commission in the 1960s said that Marathas and Kunbis were identical, which was also echoed by a government order issued in 2004 during the tenure of CM Sushil Kumar Shinde.
However, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole, who is a Kunbi, says, “The caste conflict within Kunbhi-Marathas and Maratha versus OBC is unfortunate. Any attempt to change the OBC quota would invite a strong backlash.”
