QUOTA CONUNDRUM
CM Fadnavis cosies up to the OBCs in a bid to neutralise Maratha anger
There seems to be no end to Devendra Fadnavis’s troubles. Just as the Marathas decided to withdraw from street demonstrations—in the wake of violence in Navi Mumbai, Pune and Aurangabad—the Dhangar community launched an agitation on August 12. Categorised as a ‘nomadic tribe’, the Dhangars are seeking inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes list. Their demand has been revived by the chief minister’s decision to keep recruitments to 72,000 state jobs in abeyance following the Maratha protests.
There is, meanwhile, no credible government employment data on the 363 OBC castes, which enjoy 27 per cent reservation in the state. Congress legislator Haribhau Rathod categorically says that “the exact numbers of OBC employees will only be known if the census is conducted caste-wise”.
But even as the quota agitation deepens the divide between the Marathas and the OBCs, Fadnavis seems to have decided to strike a balance between the two communities. Addressing an OBC meet on August 7, he said his government had asked the Centre to confer the Bharat Ratna on the 19th century reformist couple, Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule. Coming over a century after their demise, the announcement is clearly designed to please the OBCs. Fadnavis has also agreed to review the OBC representation in state jobs, and construct hostels for OBC students in all 19 districts of the state. This apart, he has pledged Rs 500 crore to the state OBC corporation, which runs many welfare schemes.
Analysts say it is all part of Fadnavis’s attempt to polarise non-Maratha votes in the BJP’s favour. Most OBCs—together they account for 54 per cent of the population of the state—have been loyal BJP voters. Only recently, the result of the Maratha-dominant Sangli Municipal Corporation elections on August 1 proved that a greater consolidation of OBC votes can benefit the BJP. The party, which did not have a single win five years ago, secured a simple majority, winning 41 of the 80 seats. “The OBCs are firmly behind us,” says a jubilant finance minister, Sudhir Mungantiwar.
Fadnavis has pledged Rs 500 cr for the state OBC corporation