Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: VBA chief Prakash Ambedkar on Wednesday urged Other Backward Class communities to be alert ahead of the upcoming Maharashtra polls, saying the political parties in the state didn’t support the Mandal Commission report (recommending OBC quota).
“The Other Backward Class (OBC) community has to be on alert mode. They have to take a call about whom to vote because the BJP didn’t take a stand on Mandal Commission recommendations. Those who say religion is in danger should not be believed. But at the same time, reservation is in danger,” claimed Ambedkar.
The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) head was addressing a rally in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar as part of his ‘Arakashan Bachao Yatra’.
He said OBCs should side with those who say they will save their reservation because “political parties here never supported the Mandal Commission recommendations”, he said.
While activist Manoj Jarange has been demanding reservation for the Maratha community from OBC quota, political parties in the state did not take a stand on that which created a rift among social groups, said Ambedkar.
“The rift (between Marathas and OBCs) is evident in western Maharashtra, Marathwada and other parts of the state,” he said.
Over Jarange’s claim that Maratha community members would contest in all 288 constituencies in the state, he said, “If that happens, the supremacy of 169 families (referring to Maratha MLAs) will be over,” said Ambedkar.
The VBA chief, a prominent OBC leader, said the issue of reservation should remain at the political level and not social. “If the issue remains political, peace will prevail,” he said.
Criticising NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, he said, “Pawar said the situation (in the state) may become like Manipur. But this yatra has changed that. Police have urged us to extend the yatra saying it made the environment peaceful.”
The VBA chief started the yatra on July 25 from Mumbai’s Chaityabhoomi, the memorial of his grandfather Dr B R Ambedkar, and it was to conclude in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Ambedkar had claimed, “Nizami Marathas” were trying to snatch the OBC quota, highlighting the historical context of the Nizam’s rule over the erstwhile Hyderabad state which included the Marathwada region. The last Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, lost power after Hyderabad’s annexation in 1948.
Addressing a rally in Jalna district, he asked the OBC community to thwart such plans in the upcoming assembly polls.
The state government enacted a law in February to provide the Marathas with a 10 per cent quota under a separate category.
Citing Jarange’s demand for reservation for Marathas from the OBC quota, many Other Backward Class leaders, including cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal, have opposed any dilution of the existing quota for backward communities.
The VBA head claimed Maratha leaders from both the ruling and opposition parties were planning to undermine the OBC reservation system after the upcoming assembly elections.
The OBCs should thwart their plan in the assembly polls, due in October, he said, stressing that OBC reservation is at stake.
He asked people to send 100 members from the OBC and VBA to the Maharashtra assembly to foil the “plan” to dilute the OBC reservation.
OBC activist Navnath Waghmare, who had staged a 10-day hunger strike along with Laxman Hake for the protection of OBC quota, was also present at the rally.
He hit out at Jarange for disrespecting senior leaders like Chhagan Bhujbal.
Waghmare also accused Maratha leaders in power of supporting Jarange’s “unreasonable demands” which undermine the legitimate rights of the OBC community.
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