With an eye on Lok Sabha elections of 2024, the ruling BJP in Gujarat on Tuesday announced 27 per cent reservation for other backward communities (OBCs) in local self-government bodies.
Even as the reservation has been increased by 17 per cent, the opposition Congress and the AAP termed it as a move to misguide the OBCs.
Based on various directions of the Supreme Court, Bhupendra Patel-led state government had set up Justice K.S. Zaveri Commission to determine local self-government wise population ratio. The Commission submitted its report in April 2023 and then it was approved by a cabinet sub-committee formed for the purpose.
According to government records, OBCs constitute 49.2 per cent of Gujarat’s population.
State government spokesperson and minister Rushikesh Patel said that 27 per cent reservation for the OBCs won’t be applicable in districts under PESA – Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Area – Act. In these districts, the tribal population is more than 50 per cent. Here the 10 per cent reservation for the OBCs will continue.
Patel also specified that the quota for the SC/ST remains unchanged and the overall quota also does not exceed 50 per cent. He observed that the Supreme Court had earlier directed that the quota should not exceed 50 per cent.
Elections to two district panchayats and thousands of taluka and villages panchayats could not be held for the last one year as the quota was not fixed.
The move is of immense political significance as time and again the OBCs have been raising concern over the reservation. A week ago, the Congress had staged a dharna in state capital Gandhinagar demanding reservation for these communities.
Gujarat unit chief of the AAP, Isudan Ghadvi alleged that the BJP government decided to give 27 per cent reservation to the OBCs so that it does not suffer any reserves in the Lok Sabha elections. Ghadvi said he feels that the BJP Government’s backdoor planning is to do away with the reservation and if that happens the OBCs would unite and raise voice.
Senior Congress leader and Porbandar MLA Arjun Modhwadia told THE WEEK that the announcement does not go with the spirit of what the Supreme Court had said.
According to Modhwadia, the reservation should be in proportion to the population of a particular community in a particular area.