Gehlot govt looks to tap backward classes ahead of Assembly elections 2023

The Gehlot govt in Rajasthan has constituted boards to address the welfare of Ghumantu and Ardha Ghumantu castes, the Mati Kala board for Prajapati, among others

In August, two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared the rollout of the Vishwakarma scheme in his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort, listing artisanal castes among Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Scheduled Castes (SCs) that it would benefit, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced the Rajasthan State Balinath Board to study the socio-economic status of the Bairwa caste of the state and suggest measures to uplift them. The Bairwas are a Scheduled Caste who earn their livelihood through farming and as construction workers.

The Gehlot government's decision was in continuation with the Rajasthan chief minister's efforts to reach out to specific castes in the state, especially the marginal ones among the Scheduled Tribes (STs), SCs and OBCs in the election year. Since 2022, the Congress government in Rajasthan has announced setting up nearly a dozen such boards, targeting particular castes. Taking a leaf from the Rajasthan experiment, the Congress manifesto in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh has also promised to establish boards to study the socio-economic and educational status of specific castes among the STs, SCs and OBCs.

A senior Congress leader from Rajasthan, a former minister in the Gehlot government, told Business Standard that the caste census that the party has promised in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and its outreach to specific castes, especially the non-dominant ones among the OBCs, also called Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) or Most Backward Classes (MBCs), was its antidote to the Sangh Parivar's Hindutva consolidation.

In Rajasthan, the Gehlot government has constituted boards to address the welfare of Ghumantu, or nomadic, and Ardha Ghumantu, or semi-nomadic, castes, the Mati Kala board for Prajapati, or potters, the Avantibai Lodhi Board for the welfare of the Lodhi caste, the Krishna Board for Yadavs and the Rajak board for the Dhobi community. Other caste-specific boards are the Kesh Kala Board for the Nai community, the Devnarayan Board for the Gurjar community, the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Board for the Mali community, the caste that Gehlot belongs to, and the Ahilya Bai Holkar Board for the welfare of Gadaria, or shepherds, Gayari and a couple of other castes. The Gehlot government has also constituted similar boards for upper castes, such as the Maharana Pratap Board for Rajputs and the Vipra Welfare Board for Brahmins.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator, the leader of the opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly, Rajendra Rathore, has termed these boards a hoax that the Gehlot government is perpetrating on these caste groups in the run-up to the elections since the state government was yet to make budgetary allocations for these boards, and compensating for its failure to take concrete measures for the welfare of the poor.

In its Madhya Pradesh manifesto, the Congress has promised to conduct a caste census and, after that, take specific measures for the welfare of the Extremely Backward Castes. The Congress has committed to constituting a Sant Kabir Bunkar Uthan Niti, a policy for the welfare of weavers, and a Vishwakarma Kalyan Model that, among other measures, will provide OBC artisans land for opening workshops in urban areas. Veerangana Rani Avantibai Lodhi skill development board will impart modern skills to OBC artisans in traditional professions. The party has said it will reconstitute the Kesh Shilpi Mandal and provide those pursuing haircutting as a profession with shops. It has promised self-employment assistance to Kalbeliya and Pardhi tribes, reconstituting welfare boards for Baiga, Saharia and Bharia tribes, and schemes for those involved in skinning and leather work.

In Rajasthan, the setting up of boards has also meant the party has accommodated caste leaders as members of these boards.