Congress surrounded on OBC question since independence, BJP can again hurt

Through the case of Rahul Gandhi, efforts are on to corner the Congress on the OBC issue. The Bharatiya Janata Party is constantly accusing the Congress leader of insulting the OBCs. Now if we look at the pages of history, then this political blow can be very heavy for the Congress. It is said that since independence, Congress has been lagging behind in the matter of OBCs.

ignored like this

In the years after independence, quota was also demanded from the backward classes. In the year 1953, the Jawaharlal Nehru-led government constituted the OBC commission for the first time under the leadership of Kak Kalekar. However, the report filed in 1955 continued to gather dust. After this, the OBCs in the Hindi belt turned to Ram Manohar Lohia and after his death, Charan Singh emerged as a big leader.

In the year 1977, the Congress government led by ND Tiwari announced 15 per cent reservation in government jobs for OBCs for the first time. However, within a week, the Janata Party government led by Morarji Desai showed the way out to the Tiwari government. After this Ram Naresh Yadav of Janata Party implemented reservation in Uttar Pradesh and took credit for it.

new blow

It is about the year 1990. The Congress suffered another major setback when rebel leader VP Singh announced the implementation of the Mandal Commission report. The special thing is that Morarji Desai constituted the Mandal Commission in the year 1978, which submitted its report in 1980. But she remained in the dark for 14 years. During that period, the Congress was in power at the Center for most of the time.

Later the political picture changed and Mulayam Singh Yadav in UP, Lalu Prasad Yadav in Bihar and Sharad Yadav in Madhya Pradesh gave a big blow to the Congress.

BJP changed the game

Here, on the one hand, the Congress continued to struggle in the matter of OBCs. On the other hand, BJP changed the political picture with the help of OBC leaders. The BJP is said to have been very flexible in promoting OBC leaders. An example may be taken of Lodh Rajput Kalyan Singh, who was fielded to face Mulayam Singh.

And when prominent OBC leaders like Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti revolted, the BJP made leadership changes to give political space to the communities.

Ram Prakash Gupta, who is said to be the successor of Kalyan, gave OBC status to the Jat community in UP. At the same time, to weaken Mulayam and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, the then Rajnath Singh government brought a measure of reservation in reservation.

fresh case

Recently, a court in Surat has found Rahul Gandhi guilty in a criminal defamation case. This matter is related to the year 2019. There were allegations that he had made a controversial remark by referring to the ‘Modi surname’ during a rally in Karnataka. The court sentenced him to two years. Now the BJP is projecting it as an insult to the OBC community.

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