Page 2 - Backward Classes Commission

BJP hopes to turn new OBC panel debate as Modi's Mandal moment

New Delhi, 28 MarchThe Narendra Modi government is keen to ensure the passage of a Bill to grant constitutional status to its putative National Commission for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes in the current session of Parliament.The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) views this move as an effort to consolidate its OBC support base, which helped significantly in its emphatic electoral victory in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.Such a move will also help the government to politically outmaneuver the opposition, which since the last two days has disrupted proceedings in the Rajya Sabha to protest the vacancies in the commissions for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, backward classes and minorities.The Congress, Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (United) have pointed at the vacancies as evidence of government's lack of intent in protecting the interests of OBCs. Its leaders have also alleged that the new commission was BJP's way to delete the names of certain castes, particularly the ...