Development of backward classes, which constitute more than 50 percent of the population in the country, is possible only with political reservation for OBCs, said several speakers at a function to honour Rajya Sabha member V Hanmunatha Rao, at Jubilee Hall, here on Sunday. The senior Congress leader has got K Veeramani Award from Periyar International.
There is disunity among BCs, with one community working against another, Hanumanth Rao said, adding that this needs to be tackled first.
While it is being said that BCs have 27 percent reservations and there is nothing to worry about, the truth is less than 6 percent of that reservation is implemented. “Reservations upar hai, hamari dukhan neeche hai (reservations high, but we stand below),” he said and called for a change in the mind set of upper casts.
There was no BC representative from Congress at the recent all-party meeting on Telangana though BCs are in considerable numbers in the region, he said.
Expressing happiness over the recognition for his efforts in the formation of OBC MPs’ Forum and later, the Parliamentary Committee for OBCs, by way of Veeramani Award, he said there is still a long way to go. “The foremost thing in front of us is to ensure Constitutional powers for the National Commission for Backward Classes and I will striving to achieve that,” he said.
Speakers at the meeting lauded Hanumanth Rao’s bold way of speaking his mind out even if it means making enemies within his own party.
All India BC Commission chairman and former chief justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court, Justice MN Rao, though BCs make up more than 50 percent of the population, there is no organisation to look after their welfare. “Though the National Commission for SCs has been entrusted with the task, it doesn’t have time even to look after the affairs of SCs, let alone BCs. A proposal for a separate commission for BCs is pending,” he said. Several state commissions for BCs have non-BCs as their chairmen and members, he pointed out.
Union minister of state for IT and communications Killi Krupa Rani, BC welfare minister Baswaraju Saraiah, MPs Ram Prakash (Haryana), JM Haroon (Tamil Nadu) and several others spoke. BV Ramana, convener of OBC Intellectual Forum, which organised the programme, presided.