BJP's new OBC outreach: Amit Shah to attend OBC conclave in Bihar

Patna: In its effort at outreach towards backward communities,the BJP is gearing up for more events to rope in OBC votes. Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to attend a conclave on measures taken by the central government for backward classes, BJP OBC Morcha president K Laxman said.

That the conclave is being held as part of 10,000 "samajik sammelans" (social conferences) the OBC Morcha is organising across the country as told by Laxman at a press conference on Friday, makes it clear that the party is going out in a big way to win backward classes support, especially in the clamour for caste survey raised by several anti-BJP parties across the country.

"We are approaching the Lok Sabha polls. The OBCs and the EBCs (extremely backward classes), which together comprise more than 50 per cent of the population, need to be told what the Modi government has done for them in the last 10 years,” he said.

The function which Shah will attend at Paliganj on the outskirts of Patna on Saturday is part of the drive, Laxman said.

He claimed that steps like grant of constitutional status to the OBC Commission and quotas in NEET exams and Navodaya Vidyalas were proof of the government's commitment to the betterment of backward classes.

Asked about the demand by a number of opposition parties that a "quota within quota" for female OBCs be introduced in the Women's Reservation Bill, Laxman shot back: "They should first tell us why the sub-quota did not find a place in the draft legislation brought by the precious Congress-led UPA government.” They are trying to find excuses to stall the Narendra Modi government's attempt to ensure that women get their due, he claimed.

The BJP OBC Morcha chief also went on the offensive on this score by alleging that Rahul Gandhi's barbs at the PM, questioning Modi's OBC status, smacked of the "Congress' hostility towards the OBCs, which has been on display since the times of Nehru".

He claimed that "in a letter to the then chief ministers, Nehru had minced no words expressing his aversion to caste-based quotas. Report of the Kaka Kalelkar Commission gathered dust under Congress rule".

"When V P Singh government, backed by the BJP, gave its nod to the Mandal Commission's recommendations, the most vociferous opposition came from Rajiv Gandhi", Laxman claimed.

He alleged that the RJD in Bihar and the Samajwadi Party in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh were led by people who "spoke about OBCs but worked only for their own families".

Laxman also ratified the perception about the posthumous award of Bharat Ratna on OBC leader Karpoori Thakur as a ploy to woo OBC votes. He asked why the United Front government, in which these parties were key allies, failed to consider OBC stalwart Karpoori Thakur and former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh for the Bharat Ratna.

Critics had alleged right at the time of declaration of awards that conferring awards was merely an easy and symbolic act aimed at winning OBC support without risking anything from any quarters or resulting in any benefit for the communities.