JAIPUR: More than a week after Rajasthan’s OBC Political Representation Commission submitted its report to Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, the document is yet to be officially released, while the exact contents of the report remain a mystery.
However, figures emerging from the over 900 page report through sources have triggered a political and social controversy, with several OBC communities questioning the population estimates recorded in the survey.
The report, prepared by the commission headed by retired judge Madan Lal Bhati, contains data on the social, economic and political status of 92 OBC castes in Rajasthan and is expected to play a crucial role in determining OBC reservation in the upcoming Panchayati Raj institutions and urban local body elections.
According to sources familiar with the report, the commission has estimated Rajasthan’s OBC population at around 43%, or approximately 3.59 crore.
The figure has drawn attention because the State Backwards Classes Commission had estimated the OBC population at around 52% in 2019. If the two estimates are compared directly, the latest figure represents a decline of around nine percentage points in the OBC share of the state’s population within six years.
Inevitably, the latest findings have sparked concerns among community organisations and opposition parties, particularly because the data are expected to be used in determining the reservation of seats for OBCs in local elections.
The commission was constituted as part of the exercise to fulfil the Supreme Court mandated “triple test” for providing OBC reservation in local body elections.
Political representation is among the key parameters examined in the report, which, according to sources, found that only 11 of the 92 OBC castes have significant political representation, while several communities remain inadequately represented.
Among the prominent communities raising objections are Jats. Sources said the commission has estimated the Jat population in Rajasthan at around 71.76 lakh.
The Jat Mahasabha and other community leaders have disputed the figure, claiming that the actual Jat population in the state exceeds 92 lakh.
According to the community organisations, the commission has underestimated the Jat population by around 20 lakh. They fear that the figures could affect the community’s political representation and its share in reserved seats in Jat-dominated areas.
The controversy has arisen amid demands from some other OBC organisations for categorisation within the existing 21% OBC reservation quota. Jat organisations have opposed any move that they believe could reduce their share within the OBC quota.
The Jat Mahasabha and other organisations have warned of a statewide agitation if the survey figures are used to exclude Jats from any section of the OBC quota or reduce their share in reservation.
Community leaders have alleged that the survey does not accurately reflect their population and could weaken their reservation and political representation.
Rashtriya Loktantrik Party convener and Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal has also objected to the figures, alleging that the OBC population has not been accurately counted.
Beniwal alleged that the commission prepared the figures without conducting a sufficiently comprehensive and transparent exercise and claimed that inaccurate data could influence OBC reservation in the forthcoming Panchayat and urban local body elections.
Beniwal has warned of a statewide agitation if the alleged discrepancies are not corrected and OBC communities are not provided representation in accordance with their actual population.
The All India Gurjar Mahasabha has also raised objections to the population estimate attributed to the community in the report. According to sources, the commission has put the Gurjar population at around 32.68 lakh.
Gurjar leaders, however, claim that their population in Rajasthan is around 80 lakh and have questioned the methodology used to arrive at the commission’s estimate. Community representatives have threatened an agitation if the figures are not reviewed and corrected.
Opposition leaders and community organisations have also alleged that the survey did not adequately cover several areas, including more than 100 villages, resulting in what they describe as incomplete data.
The Congress has demanded that the state government release the complete commission report rather than allow figures attributed to it to emerge selectively.
Leader of the Opposition Tikaram Jully and Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasara have questioned the survey and accused the BJP government of creating divisions among OBC communities.
Dotasara alleged that the BJP government, at the behest of the RSS, was preparing to reduce the scope of OBC reservation. He expressed apprehension that the existing 21% OBC reservation could effectively be reduced to as low as 5% in some Panchayat and urban local body elections.
He also questioned how caste wise figures from the report were appearing in the public domain when the government had not officially released the document.
"How are statistics and data concerning different castes appearing in the media when the commission’s report has not yet been officially released?” Dotasara asked.
With reservation for the upcoming local elections expected to be determined on the basis of the commission’s exercise, demands are growing for the government to make the entire report public and clarify the methodology used for estimating the population and political representation of individual OBC communities.