MUMBAI: A rift has surfaced within the BJP-led Mahayuti government over its decision to allow the implementation of the Hyderabad Gazette and the ‘one-clan’ formula for granting Kunbi caste certificates, enabling beneficiaries to claim Other Backwards Class (OBC) status.
This move by the Mahayuti has not only divided the incumbent government, but it has also caused major unrest among the OBC community and its leaders.
OBC community leaders alleged that the BJP-led Mahayuti government succumbed to the pressure of the Maratha protestors by allowing the Maratha, the dominant and politically influential majority caste, to enter through the back door into the OBC category.
NCP minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal has decided to go against his own government’s issued Government resolution (GR) for granting reservations to the Maratha community by considering the Hyderabad Gazette and the one clan formula as evidence to establish the cast and its genealogy. Mr Bhujbal has decided to challenge some of the objectionable and sticky clauses of the state government GR.
Bhujbal said that he and other OBC leaders are seeking the legal opinion on whether the state government and its local bodies have the right and authority to change anyone’s caste and include them in a certain reservation category.
“We (OBC leaders) have doubts about the state government GR issued for Maratha reservation as to who won after Maratha quota leader Manoj Jarange Patil’s agitation. We are seeking legal opinion on whether the government is authorised to change people's caste," NCP minister who is vocal on OBC’s clause. He also skipped the cabinet meeting in the backdrop of this issue.
Another senior leader in Mahayuti said that the BJP boasts about the OBC, and even party leaders during the election campaign described the OBC as the NDA of the BJP.
“If the OBCs are the backbone of the BJP, then why BJP want to break its backbone by allowing Marathas to get reservations in the OBC category. This is nothing but fooling the OBC community and backstabbing it. BJP came to power with the votes of the OBC, and in return, what OBCs are getting injustice. We do not know how to react and what to say against the BJP decision that favoured the majority of the Maratha caste at the cost of small castes in the OBC,” he said, requesting anonymity.
Another OBC leader, Laxman Hakhe, said that there is strong fear within the OBC community that their existing quota would be affected due to the deal struck with Maratha quota leader Manoj Jarange Patil by the state government.
He questioned the intention of the state government and its cause for social justice. “If the Maratha, like a dominant caste, gets included into OBC, where do the small communities and castes within the OBC go? They are not capable of fighting against the influential and resourceful community like the Maratha under the OBC category. The state government's decision has done injustice to OBC,” he alleged.
