Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked opposition parties in election rallies on the issue of caste enumeration… (File photo)
New Delhi:
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is facing attacks from opposition parties over the issue of caste enumeration, is gearing up to launch a campaign to reach out to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) ahead of the 2024 general elections. few months Sources gave this information to NDTV on Thursday. National President of the party J.P. Nadda and National General Minister B.L. Santosh and top leaders, including Union Ministers Amit Shah and Nitin Gadkari, held a meeting in Delhi last week to chalk out the campaign in detail, with 40 leaders from 10 states, including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, also present.
Also read
The opposition’s call for a caste census is one of the most pressing issues of this election and the BJP, which has been reluctant to commit to any party in the past, is now under pressure to respond.
The pressure has increased as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Apna Dal (Sonelal), Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), Nishad Party and Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular etc. have supported the issue.
The pressure on the ruling BJP at the Center to accept the demand increased when Bihar conducted its own survey in August (a process the Supreme Court refused to stop), saying the state’s population had a higher share of OBCs in the state. Between 27 percent and over 33 percent of the state’s population live in extreme poverty.
OBCs and extremely backward classes account for more than 60 percent of Bihar’s population. This report from Bihar not only highlights the plight of groups that constitute at least 40 percent of India’s population (as per NSSO’s 2007 survey), but also emphasizes their electoral importance.
Assembly elections are being held in five states this month – Madhya Pradesh (where the BJP is in power), Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan (ruled by the Congress), Telangana (a stronghold of the Bharat Rashtra Samiti ie BRS) and Mizoram. OBCs (as a percentage of households in rural areas) in Telangana are over 57 percent. It is 51.4 percent in Chhattisgarh, 46.8 percent in Rajasthan and 42.4 percent in Madhya Pradesh.
According to sources, the meeting in Delhi (and the report from Bihar) has put the BJP in ‘action mode’ on the caste enumeration issue. The day after the meeting, Amit Shah left for Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, where he said that the BJP has never opposed caste enumeration, but wanted hard work to be done properly in the right direction first.
The Union Home Minister said, “We are a national party and do not do votebank politics… We will take a decision after extensive discussion… But it is not right to use this issue to win elections… BJP has never used it.” did not oppose…”