The Other Backward Classes (OBCs), like in other parts of the country, constitute a majority (54%) of the population in Telangana, which will go to the polls on Thursday, November 30. Despite their numerical preponderance and a new political discourse of social justice around OBCs catching up across the country, mainstream political parties in Telangana have paid no heed to the calls for proportional political representation.
The promises made by main contenders – the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), Congress, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – in the run-up to the election now appear nothing more than mere glib talk. Each of these parties has had a distinct approach towards OBCs in the state, at least going by this election. However, all of them have fully reneged on their promise of increasing the number of tickets given to OBC candidates, if not keeping up with the promise of proportional political representation.
Transactional welfarism of the BRS
Since assuming power in 2014, the BRS has been adopting a policy of transactional welfarism towards OBCs. This has been done through schemes such as distributing livestock to specific OBC groups, offering support to fishermen, and providing insurance for toddy tappers from the Goud caste. It established the Kula Vruthi OBC Development Fund (Kula Vruthi means caste occupation), focusing on uplifting various OBC communities based on their traditional occupations. However, this approach has received severe criticism from several quarters, including OBCs, who say that such a policy has furthered the caste system by confining OBC groups to specific caste-based occupations rather than genuinely empowering them.
K. Chandrashekar Rao. Credit: Facebook
Of the 119 seats, BRS has fielded only 23 OBCs, causing deep disappointment among these groups over underrepresentation. In particular, the influential Mudiraj community – according to various unofficial estimates constituting around 12% of the state population – has found no representation at all among the nominees of the BRS. Aggrieved over BRS’s perceived injustice, community leaders have issued open calls to defeat the BRS. In fact, the community was already upset even before the list of BRS candidates was announced over the unceremonious exit of its tallest leader Eatala Rajender from BRS. Rajender is taking on the BRS chief in a direct contest in Gajwel.
Only five OBC communities have a found place on the BRS candidate list. This leaves heartburn among unrepresented OBC communities, as they have been the loyal support base of the party from the time of the Telangana statehood movement.
Mismatch between Congress’s tall talk and reality
Although the Congress party at the national level has been highlighting the need for OBCs to get their due share in the socio-political space in the country, the party has not been able to turn its words into action in the poll-bound state of Telangana. Of the 118 seats the party is contesting, it has fielded only 22 candidates. In most of these seats, going by the widespread allegations, the Congress party does not stand a chance of winning. Nonetheless, the party managed internal disagreements by offering tickets to some of the dissenting OBC leaders.
A group of Telangana Congress leaders from various OBC communities, including Ponnala Lakshmaiah, V. Hanumanth Rao, Madhu Yashki Goud, and Ponnam Prabhakar, had held a press conference at the party headquarters in Hyderabad requesting the party high command to increase representation for their communities in the nominee list. However, the party did not fulfil their request.
Congress leaders Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Revanth Reddy, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rahul Gandhi, among others. Photo: Twitter/@INCIndia
Dejected with the candidate list, powerful OBC leader and former Telangana Congress chief Lakshmaiah left the party to join the BRS. Cheruku Sudhakar, another prominent OBC leader, followed suit.
In another instance, the Congress party, in order to woo the Mudiraj community, promised OBC leader Neelam Madhu a ticket from Patancheru after he was denied the same by the BRS. The party went back on its promise even after its national president Mallikarjun Kharge had assured Madhu of the ticket. The Congress thus disappointed the Mudiraj community.
However, the party, aware of the OBC vote bank, has been announcing several welfare measures to reach out to various sub-castes. During the electioneering, the party made a concerted effort to connect with OBC voters by raising their concerns, announcing a series of welfare measures, including conducting a caste census, allocating an OBC sub-quota, and ensuring reservations in proportion to the OBC population.
To counter the BRS and BJP narrative, Congress has outlined a comprehensive plan for the welfare and development of Other Backward Classes (OBC). The party has promised to roll out a BC Sub Plan, by earmarking Rs 1 lakh crore over the next five years for BC welfare. The party has also announced that it envisions the creation of a Most Backward Classes (MBC) Welfare department along with corporations for each BC caste. Reservations for BCs in local bodies and government contracts are to be increased to 42%, and special infrastructure, such as Professor Jayashankar BC Aikyatha Bhavans, will be established. OBC youth have been promised interest-free loans for business and education.
Additionally, the party pledges to move certain OBC communities to a more favourable reservation category and undertake initiatives like sheep distribution schemes for communities like Yadav and Kurma. The Mudiraj community and related castes ‘Mutrasi and Tenugollu’ will be shifted from BC-D to BC-A in the reservation category.
Strategic mistakes impact BJP’s OBC push
Like in other states, OBCs have emerged as the strong support base of the BJP in Telangana in recent times. This appears to be the reason behind the deliberate choice of handing over the reins of the party after the formation of Telangana in 2014 to OBC leaders: K. Laxman and Bandi Sanjay. Its current top leadership, including Sanjay and Dharampuri Arvind, are from the Munnuru Kapu community, an influential OBC group in the state. The strategic accommodation of Eatala Rajendar of the Mudiraj community has also helped the BJP to woo OBC communities.
File photo. BJP Telangana unit former president Bandi Sanjay with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the BJP national executive meeting held on July 4 in Hyderabad. Photo: Twitter.
It was this OBC push that had helped the BJP in the state to emerge as the principal challenger to the incumbent BRS until six months ago. The surprise removal of Sanjay as the state party chief in July this year has since proved as an impediment to its growth, helping the Congress to take its place.
Despite the party promising to make an OBC chief minister if elected to power, its support among the backward communities seems to have waned. The party had promised 40% of seats to OBC candidates but is now fielding 39 out of 111 seats it is contesting. The party’s rhetoric about Prime Minister Narendra Modi being an OBC has not really cut much ice with the OBC community. Additionally, the BJP has committed ‘constitutional status’ to the state BC Commission and offered financial assistance to BC students pursuing higher education abroad.
Among the smaller parties, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has been infused with a new lease of life in the state after former IPS officer R.S. Praveen Kumar took the reins of the party, has fielded 50 OBC candidates out of 118 seats it is contesting.
Suman Damera is an assistant professor at the Department of Public Administration, Pachhunga University College (PUC), Mizoram University, Aizawl.
