New Delhi [India], June 28 : Congress on Saturday cornered the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Madhya Pradesh for its wilful delay in providing 27 per cent reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) despite the passing of the concerned legislation and clearing of the same by the courts.
The party demanded the immediate implementation of 27 per cent reservations for OBCs in Madhya Pradesh, as it has been categorically cleared by the Supreme Court.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, senior party leaders, including former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Madhya Pradesh Congress in-charge Harish Chaudhary, MP PCC president Jitu Patwari and AICC OBC Department Chairman Anil JaiHind alleged that the BJP was revealing its anti-reservation and anti-backwards classes mindset by deliberately delaying the reservation benefits to the OBCs.
Harish Chaudhary stated that it was the Congress government that originally provided 14 per cent reservation to the OBCs in 1994. Later, in 2003, again, it was the Congress government that raised the quota to 27 per cent. However, after the elections, the BJP government was formed, and it never implemented the decision.
He stated that after 16 years, when the Congress government was formed in 2019 under the leadership of Kamal Nath, it introduced an ordinance providing 27 per cent reservation for OBCs. However, the BJP challenged it in court, which then directed that a law be enacted on the matter.
"We subsequently got the bill passed in the Assembly." He added that as the BJP formed the government again, it did not implement the OBC reservation bill.
Chaudhary stated that the High Court dismissed the pleas against the 27 per cent reservations, and the BJP government subsequently approached the Supreme Court. He noted that the Supreme Court also upheld it and issued a notice to the MP government on June 25, inquiring why the 27 per cent reservation benefit for OBCs was not being implemented.
Bhupesh Baghel, while accusing the BJP of having an anti-reservation mindset, disclosed that the Congress government in Chhattisgarh had unanimously passed a law in December 2022 to provide 27 per cent reservation to OBCs.
However, the bill is yet to get the nod of the Governor. He said this is because the BJP does not want to provide 27 per cent reservations to the OBCs. He seconded Chaudhary's stand that not only will the Congress fight the issue legally, but it will also raise it publicly to build pressure on the BJP government to implement it.
Jitu Patwari said that it was strange that Prime Minister Modi claims himself to be an OBC, and yet he was not providing the OBC community its rightful due. He said the OBC Chief Ministers of MP belonging to the BJP, like Uma Bharti, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Mohan Yadav, have all betrayed their community.
Anil JaiHind maintained that the BJP and the RSS have always been against the reservation. Citing an example, he said the law on reservation for Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis in private educational institutions has been deliberately delayed by the BJP government since 2014.