Amid the ruckus in Parliament over the raging Pegasus spyware controversy, the contentious farm laws and fuel hike, there was a pause. A rare consensus emerged on the Constitution Amendment Bill to restore powers of States to frame their list of Other Backward Classes with the bill passed by an overwhelming 385 vote against none.
The amendment to the bill empowers all States to notify their backward classes bypassing a Supreme Court verdict delivered in May this year allowing only the Centre to do so. The Centre now argued that the amendment will benefit around 671 OBC communities across India which could otherwise lose out on reservations in educational institutes and jobs if States are not allowed to prepare their lists.
The question is whether the Centre has played a political masterstroke on the political chessboard in the guise of social welfare, or whether this legislation is out of genuine concern for the hundreds of deprived OBCs? Let’s not forget, the amendment comes at a very sensitive time when five States are scheduled to go to polls.
The caste factor plays a crucial role in the UP poll battle with Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party trying to woo the Brahmin voters, and the BJP trying to cash in on the OBCs. The Yogi Adityanath government has already made plans to include 39 castes in the State OBC list. With the State now allowed to draw up their lists, Adityanath will certainly extract the maximum mileage by securing his vote banks. Moves to placate the backward classes have been visible in recent times, with the Central government even announcing a 27 per cent reservation in NEET.
Along with Uttar Pradesh, the other States going to polls -- Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa -- also tend to benefit by bringing in more communities that, until now, have been kept out because lists were out of State’s control. Cut into Goa, and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hailed it as the BJP government's commitment towards social welfare. Sawant has reason to celebrate because it works to the advantage of the Goa government too. OBCs constitute 24.10 per cent of the State's population and by these numbers become a very decisive force in electoral politics. The very fact that OBCs are allocated 27 per cent reservations in jobs and admissions shows the recognition they command.
Goa, to date, has 19 communities listed under OBCs with Bhandaris perched on the top with 61.10 per cent population and the Kharvi community second with 24.10 per cent. The amended OBC Act will be a handy tool for the government to further its outreach and accommodate communities like the Gomantak Maratha Samaj and others who have been deprived of recognition.
There is no denying that the amendment will go a long way towards social welfare, but in the same vein, the political momentum that the governments in poll-bound States are going to gain is beyond any doubt.
