CONGRESS TO COUNTER BJP’S OBC, DALIT PITCH WITH OWN PLAN

With an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and other upcoming assembly elections, the Congress has initiated an outreach strategy for Dalits and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

The change in tactic saw the Congress for the first time in the past nearly two decades holding internal discussions with its backward caste leaders on drawing up a plan to woo OBCs.

The meeting was part of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s interactive sessions he started 2-3 months ago with party leaders from different sections of the society on finding ways to strengthen the organisation. He has so far held discussions with Dalit, Muslim and Tribal leaders.

“In my 20 years of association with the Congress, this is the first time that an initiative has been taken to involve backward leaders in the consultative process,” said an OBC leader who attended the closed-door meeting with Gandhi last week.

The need for such a dialogue was felt in view of the BJP’s successful strategy to wean away OBCs from the Congress and other regional parties, using Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s caste status to its advantage not only in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls but in other state elections too.

The OBCs had moved away from the Congress in late 1980s with the emergence of Mandal politics. While the Mandal Commission report of 1980 estimated the OBC population in the country at 52%, a survey by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in 2004-05 put the figure at 40.94%. The NSSO survey had also put the SC population at 19.59%, ST at 8.63% and the rest at 30.80%.

Along with OBCs, the Congress is also trying to court the Dalits in a big way. The party will unveil its Dalit agenda at a threeday international conference in Bengaluru, beginning from July 21. Gandhi is expected to address the conference. The conference comes at a time when attacks on Dalits and Muslims by cow vigilantes is on the rise.

In my 20 years of association with the Congress, this is the first time that an initiative has been taken to involve backward leaders in the consultative process OBC CONGRESS LEADER