The sub-categorisation of Other Backward Class quota is turning into a hot potato for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh with its allies turning on the heat over the issue amid a clash of interests.
The Apna Dal (S), led by Union Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel, on Monday accused the Yogi Adityanath government of trying to divide the OBCs and creating a rift among them.
Addressing a meeting of the party’s national office-bearers in Lucknow, Ms. Patel demanded that the Adityanath government conduct a caste census of OBCs before it decides to implement sub-categorisation of the quota. She dared the State government to reveal the population of each caste under the OBC in U.P.
Her statement came with reference to the silence maintained by the Adityanath government over the report submitted by a four-member Social Justice Committee formed to review the situation of different castes under OBC.
“If the U.P. government has not done any such study [caste census], then on what basis is the SJC carrying out the sub-categorisation? You cannot snatch one’s share and give it to another,” Ms. Patel said, accusing the State government of “injustice” towards the OBCs. The Apna Dal (S) is based on Kurmi (an OBC caste) support.
The BJP’s other ally, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, issued a 100-day ultimatum to Mr. Adityanath to implement the sub-categorisation, or else it would consider separation from the National Democratic Alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Om Prakash Rajbhar, SBSP president and Cabinet Minister in the Adityanath government, has threatened to contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats in the State alone.
Report complications
The SJC report, which was seen as a move to mobilise the most-backward castes against the dominant Yadavs, commonly associated with the Samajwadi Party, led to complications when it tagged the Yadavs in the same category as the Kurmis and Jats, two communities the BJP does not want to politically antagonise.
While the report has still not been made public or tabled in the Assembly despite being sent to the government in October, a leaked copy of it suggests the panel has recommended a split of the 27% OBC quota into three categories.
The panel headed by retired Allahabad High Court judge Raghavendra Kumar has listed 79 sub-castes under the OBC category. Of these, nine fall under Backward Class, 37 under More Backward and 33 under Most Backward categories.
Listed under the Backward Class — those who will be restricted to 7% quota — are castes like Yadav, Kurmi and Jat. The panel says that these castes are socially, economically and culturally “strong” and have been recruited in government jobs more than the ratio of their population, while also enjoying influential political representation.
"They have not been socially oppressed and feel proud in telling their caste," reads the 400-plus page report.
The More Backward category includes castes like Gurjar, Kushwaha-Maurya-Shakya, Prajapati, Gaderia-Pal, Baghel, Sahu, Kumhar, Teli and Lodh. The panel says these castes may not face cultural exclusion, but they have poor representation politically and economically. Their employment rate is only 50% in comparison to their population and some specific castes among them have been getting more employment in comparison to the rest leading to emergence of a new middle class, says the report.
The third category, the Most Backward, consists of the most deprived castes whose members are mostly employed either in grade 3 and 4 services or have zero representation. Their political drawing power is also limited, the report notes. They include riverine castes like Mallah, Nishad, Kewat, Kashyap and Kahar, apart from Bind, Rajbhar, Bhar, Loniya Chauhan, Dheevar and Ghosi.