Parties promote new Maha OBC leadership
MUMBAI : The gradual marginalisation of the Munde sisters — Pankaja and Pritam — in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the resultant churn in the party indicate that mainstream political parties in the state, the BJP included, are nurturing a fresh crop of other backward classes (OBC) leaders who can challenge the first-rung OBC faces in their ranks.
There is a perception that these established leaders are being cut to size by challengers from their communities, although the reasons could be different in each party.
In 2019, Pankaja suffered a shock defeat from Parli in Beed, the pocket-borough of her father—bjp stalwart and OBC leader Gopinath Munde. Pankaja lost to estranged cousin Dhananjay, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and social justice minister in the Uddhav Thackeray government. It was believed that she would be accommodated in the legislative council with OBC leaders like former ministers Eknath Khadse, who has joined the NCP, and Chandrashekhar Bavankule, who belongs to the Teli community, which has strong pockets in Vidarbha. However, the BJP nominated newer OBC leaders like Ramesh Karad, Gopichand Padalkar and Pravin Datke.
Like Pankaja, Karad, too, is a Vanjari. Another Vanjari leader Bhagwat Karad was appointed as a union minister of state over Pankaja’s sister Pritam, a Lok Sabha MP from Beed.
The Vanjaris have significant numbers in Marathwada and parts of North Maharashtra and Vidarbha. They are counted among the most powerful OBC groups.
The NCP is similarly seen as having gradually sidelined its seasoned OBC face Chhagan Bhujbal in favour of two young Vanjari leaders — Jitendra Awhad and Dhananjay Munde. The duo came to the forefront at a time when Bhujbal was entangled in corruption allegations and was lodged in prison for over two years.
Ironically, this churn is taking place at a time when the OBCS, who form around 53% of the population (according to community outfits) are at odds with the dominant Marathas over the latter’s demands for quotas.
The state government’s ringfenced reservations for Marathas have been struck down by the Supreme Court (SC). This has led to them reiterating their demand to be classified as OBCS.
However, this is opposed by the other backwards, who compete with Marathas for control of local power centres, and fear that they will lose out on affirmative action benefits.
The OBCS are also upset at the
SC squashing their quota in local body elections.
“The masses are upset at Pankaja tai being marginalised. There were similar attempts in the BJP to undercut Munde saheb,” charged Munde supporter Balasaheb Sanap of the Vanjari Samaj Arakshan Kruti Samiti, adding that the BJP would feel the heat.
However, a senior BJP leader said this shake-up mirrored a trend at the national level. “There is a perception that the BJP gets votes largely due to the persona of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In this new scheme of things, other leaders are seen as irrelevant. After all, it is the engine that pulls the train and not the bogies,” he explained.
In the BJP, Pankaja, a former minister, was seen as a challenger to former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Her supporters allege that the 2019 defeat was an “inside job.”
“All parties are wary of the resentment among OBCS over the demand by the Marathas. The otherwise diverse OBCS are closing ranks. Hence, parties are trying to nurture a fresh OBC leadership to get these votes,” said an OBC leader, who is with the Shiv Sena.
“Leaders like Ramesh Karad and Bhagwat Karad may lack popular support today, but they can build their base ground-up,” he added.
While their party leaderships are looking at shaking-up the entrenched order, the old guard of OBC leaders is not taking things lying down and are working to cement their base.
An activist close to Bhujbal noted that while a new bunch of leaders were being propped up to counter the old guard of OBC leaders, ironically, it was the veterans who were standing up for the interests of the backwards. “Leaders like Bhujbal, Pankaja and Bavankule are more vocal on the issues concerning OBCS like them losing out on around 56,000 seats in local bodies, while those seen as their challengers within the ranks largely chose to keep mum,” he said.
Incidentally, while the caste cauldron in Maharashtra is boiling, the Shiv Sena, which has significant support base among the OBCS, is largely silent. This is attributed to its caste-neutral approach with a base in Mumbai and surrounding areas, where politics is polarised around language and religion. Partymen admit that the cosmopolitan nature of its leadership makes it tough for the Sena to grasp grassroot realities in rural areas unlike the NCP.
The BJP, which too has a significant base in the OBCS, is trying to create a fresh constituency by co-opting leaders like Padalkar, who belongs to the Dhangar (shepherd) community, which is a prominent OBC group. The BJP is reaching out to smaller OBCS to create a rainbow social coalition. For instance, Bhiwandi MP Kapil Patil, another inductee to the union cabinet is an Agri. The Agri community has a strong presence in Mumbai’s eastern suburbs, Thane and Raigad.
On the other hand, the Congress has chosen an OBC, Nana Patole, a Kunbi from Vidarbha, as the state unit chief. Significantly, Kunbis have strong presence in Vidarbha region that BJP dominated in 2014 and 2019 assembly elections.
“Consolidation of OBCS will disrupt the established order. Hence, parties shuffle their pack frequently. All political parties want OBC votes, but don’t want to devolve leadership to them,” said Hari Narke, a former backward classes commission member.
However, Vishwanath Patil of the Kunbi Sena, said among the OBCS, most of the benefits had been corned by established sections like Malis (gardeners), Vanjaris and Dhangars.
Writer-activist Sanjay Sonawani said some entrenched OBC groups had benefitted from affirmative action measures at the cost of numerically smaller backward groups.
“There is a need to re-cast politics and the quota system to ensure that those who have benefited from the reservation system are either excluded from it or their benefits are reduced,” he said, while supporting the G. Rohini Commission, which is looking into the equitable distribution of the OBC quota.