Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], July 28 : The Monsoon Session of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly commenced on Monday, marked by high political drama as Congress leaders raised strong objections against the BJP-led government over the issue of OBC reservations.
Loud slogans echoed in the assembly complex and its surroundings, including chants like "OBC ke samaan mein, Congress maidan mein" and "OBC ke bhai-behno ko nyay do."
Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar and senior Congress MLA Sachin Yadav accused the BJP government of betraying the OBC community by failing to implement the 27% reservation in government jobs despite previous commitments.
Speaking to ANI, Umang Singhar slammed the state government, drawing a sharp metaphor, "...The meaning of 'girgit' is changing the colour; you all know it, but the government is changing the colour more than this girgit. Where Rahul Gandhi talks on subjects like caste and economy...The BJP wants to implement a 27% reservation within the state. It does not want to talk about the real issues of the youth."
He adds, "On the contrary, the BJP government wants crores of rupees to be given to the lawyers in the form of Supreme Court fees..."
He further accused the ruling BJP of political hypocrisy, "...The OBCs who have been promised reservations in jobs do not get them. You take their votes, but the BJP is eating away at their back; this is the real face of the BJP. This Congress party has demanded that the government implement what the Supreme Court has said, but the government does not want to implement reservation... There is no 27% reservation; a decision should be taken on this immediately..."
Congress MLA Sachin Yadav echoed similar sentiments, attacking the BJP's stand both inside and outside the courtroom.
"The Bharatiya Janata Party is constantly doing injustice to our OBC class colleagues. The double face of the Bharatiya Janata Party today, people of OBCs across the state are watching now how other statements are made in the Parliament and the government is not able to maintain its stand inside the court with the strength that it should have," he said.
Yadav further accused the BJP government of deliberate sabotage, "How the OBC colleagues are not getting the benefits of the law of 27% reservation for the OBC class implemented by the Congress party, the BJP government are plotting this. A huge amount is being given to the voters in the form of fees so that our OBC class friends do not get the benefit of their reservation rights."
He concluded with a warning and a call to action, "And I believe that this is the first such government which is doing more than changing the colour of the girgit. And today our entire OBC community has awakened, today our OBC community from across the state, our OBC Mahasabha, are going to gherao the CM House, the Congress party supports it and until the citizens get the benefit of the law that we have passed for our OBC friends, the Congress party is not going to let it go."
He remarked that the Congress party will work to keep the government in check and will not stop here. They will not just demand reservations in jobs, but also demand political reservations.