The Maharashtra unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress held protests across the State on Saturday demanding restoration of reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in local governing bodies, which was quashed by the Supreme Court in March this year.
Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis, who participated in a protest in his home district of Nagpur, claimed that if his party was brought back to power, he would ensure that the quota for OBCs was restored within four months, and if not, he would quit politics.
Addressing BJP workers in Nagpur, Mr, Fadnavis said, “Unrest within the OBC community is a result of the incapability of the State government. This government did nothing in the court to ensure that the reservation remained. It did not even form the Backward Classes Commission. If this government is not able to restore the quota, it should give power to us. If I don’t deliver it within four months, then I will retire from politics.”
However, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) accused the former BJP-led government of making a mess of the reservation issue. The ruling parties also blamed the BJP for failing to submit empirical data on OBCs to the Supreme Court despite being in power at the Centre.
State Congress working president Chandrakant Handore said, “The real culprit behind OBCs losing reservation is the BJP-led Central government and the previous State government headed by Devendra Fadnavis. How can it even blame the present Maha Vikas Aghadi government as it was the one that enjoyed power for the previous five years?”
State Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant pointed out Mr. Fadnavis had promised to provide Scheduled Tribe status to the Dhangar community in his first Cabinet meeting in 2014. “Everybody knows that it was a lie and Fadnavis had been exposed. Similarly, he is trying to shift the blame in this issue of OBC reservation, but he has been exposed here as well,” Mr. Sawant said.
NCP State chief Jayant Patil accused the BJP of clipping the wings of OBC leaders such as Eknath Khadse, Pankaja Munde, and Chandrashekhar Bawankule. “An OBC leader like Chhagan Bhujbal was jailed. And this party is talking about delivering justice to the OBCs? Do not fall prey to these tactics,” Mr. Patil said.
