Maharashtra: BJP plans rasta roko on June 26 over OBC quota

The OBC agitation comes to the street even as Marathas are protesting for their quota which was scrapped by the Supreme Court. Representation pic

The Bharatiya Janata Party proposes to stall the road traffic across the state on June 26 to get the political reservation of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) restored. The party leaders met on Friday to mount pressure on the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, and decided to move the court, if needed, to get the forthcoming local self-government elections stayed.

"OBCs must get their rights restored. We will not let the elections take place if the state government doesn't do anything about it. We will ensure that the MVA government does it and if it fails, we move the court," said opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis.

The OBC agitation comes to the street even as Marathas are protesting for their quota which was scrapped by the SC. The BJP has supported Marathas only in matters that are related to the MVA government, because it firmly believes that the state government can restore the Maratha quota by making law instead of shifting blame to the Centre.

The BJP isn't the only party that has supported OBCs, one of its strong vote banks. Samata Parishad, which is headed by the NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal, staged protests on Thursday. Bhujbal said the protests weren't held against the state government.

In another movement, the OBC Janmorcha will gather at 358 tehsil offices across the state on June 21 to demand the reservation. "We feel that the SC verdict will endanger OBC quota in all local bodies like civic corporations/councils, district and tehsil councils. The state government has failed in the court. Now it should form a commission to collect the empirical data of OBCs," said a statement from the OBC Janmorcha.

Applies to all

The OBC quota in five local self-governments was scrapped by the Supreme Court recently, but experts say it applies to all local bodies in the state, including BMC which goes to the polls next year. The quota can be restored if the state fulfils certain conditions put by the apex court, say experts.

According to Prof Hari Narke, the subject expert who the government has consulted, the SC judgment applies to all 27 civic corporations, 36 district bodies, 364 municipal councils, tehsil and village bodies.

"The verdict had ended the 25-year-old quota. It will impact 56,000 OBC representatives," he wrote on social media, adding that the judgment also applies to the entire country, but the quota has not been scrapped forever and can be implemented again if some conditions are met by the states.

He said that CM Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with him and other experts in the state government and outside it. "The state government has decided to file a petition requesting the Supreme Court to ask the Centre for giving the MVA government the OBC's empirical data that was collated by the UPA government in 2011," he said.