Centre attempts to woo OBC Muslims via 100 conferences

A large number of backwards among Muslims are deprived of the benefits they should get. We want to inform and empower them about their rights.

The Narendra Modi government is planning about 100 conferences across the country, including a mega event in Delhi, in an effort to woo the OBCs among Muslims.

“A large number of backwards among Muslims are deprived of the benefits they should get. We want to inform and empower them of their rights,” minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.

The senior BJP leader said more than 50% communities among Muslims fall within the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category and their population would be more than 12 crore. “We will inform the backwards among minority communities how the constitutional status to backward classes commission with benefit them. Only a few castes have benefitted so far,” Naqvi added.

The Modi government has proposed constitutional status to the National Commission of Backward Classes, arguing it will accrue benefits to the backward communities.

The bill was cleared by the Lok Sabha but is on hold in the Rajya Sabha, which has formed a select committee to review its provisions. The BJP has been making a determined push for the past twothree years to woo the OBC communities and Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to expand the party’s net by reaching out to Muslims.

At the just-concluded meeting of the party’s national executive in Bhubaneswar, Modi asked the BJP to reach out to backward communities among the minorities, arguing they have been left behind. “Will Syeds and Pathans continue to provide leadership to Muslims? Backwards among them also need to benefit,” a BJP leader quoted him as saying at the meet. Syeds and Pathans are considered forward castes among Muslims.