BENGALURU: AICC’s new arm the OBC Advisory Council at its maiden meeting held at the KPCC officer here on Tuesday, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, resolved to back Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s agenda to win over the 90% of the population of the country OBCs, SC/STs and poorer sections among forward castes. The meeting will resume at a private hotel on Wednesday with OBC leaders from across the country taking part to discuss various issues, including the caste census. Three resolutions on political, social and economical issues of backward classes are likely to be adopted.
The meeting is significant ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls, for which Rahul is campaigning aggressively. The meeting is likely to send out a message that the Grand Old Party is in favour of OBCs and the caste census.
Analysts interpret it as the Grand Old Party’s strategy to counter BJP and PM Narendra Modi with an assumption that the country has taken a paradigm shift over backward classes that could determine the outcomes in future elections, till the next Lok Sabha polls.
Rajasthan former CM Ashok Gehlot claimed that because of Rahul’s vociferous campaign, the Modi government announced the caste census. “Under pressure ahead of Bihar Assembly polls, the Modi government announced it. The OBC Advisory Council and entire Congress will stand by Rahul in the campaign for caste census and to remove the 50% reservation cap,” he asserted.
On implementing recommendations of the Mandal commission and the census conducted by the Manmohan Singh government, Siddaramaiah said, “BJP was never in favour of social justice and reservation. It opposed the process whenever Congress initiated it.”
He recalled that Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar formed the Miller Committee in 1918, which made a data-based classification of backward classes. “In 1921, Mysore implemented 75% reservation, India’s first modern backward class advancement policy. This shows that social justice was our moral compass even before the Constitution mandated it.
The Mandal Commission (1979) identified more than 50% of India’s population as OBCs and recommended 27% reservation in government jobs. When it was implemented in 1990, BJP, RSS and their allies strongly opposed it, sparking protests across the country and leading to over 200 suicides,” he said.
However, the government led by PV Narasimha Rao fully implemented the Mandal Commission’s 27% reservation, he added. He said his government in 2013 got the Kantharaju commission to conduct the Socio Economic and Educational Survey. But successive BJP governments failed to implement it.
DyCM DK Shivakumar, former CMs Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh), V Narayanasamy (Puducherry), and M Veerappa Moily (Karnataka), CWC permanent invitee Gurdeep Singh Sappal, CWC special invitee BK Hariprasad, AICC OBC chief Dr Anil Jaihind, convener of the advisory council, and OBC leaders were present.