To counter Modi,Congress to declare quota for Jats in OBC list

The Group of Ministers (GOM) constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is set to include Jat community in the Centre's OBC list.

The UPA had planned the inclusion of Jats – who can tilt the poll balance in Rajasthan and parts of Delhi – under the other backward class (OBC) category for Central Government jobs. They are already included in the Rajasthan State list.

But the inclusion of Jats in the reserved category as OBCs will swing the vote share in UPA's favour, a good trick to counter Narendra Modi ,who is trying enough to present a secular image  and a leader of backward groups.Seeing the huge wave of BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's OBC identity in the entire nation,the Congress leadership has decided to throw its weight behind the Jat reservation demand .


It's a real fact that elections in India are fought on caste and community lines and not on issues.Considering the hard fact that  BJP is likely to attract huge OBC vote bank  from  regional parties  Samajwadi party in Uttar Pradesh, JD(U) in Bihar  which won the elections by giving freebies to Pasmanda muslims  in Bihar and the RJD.

The National Commission for Backward Classes had sought a study by the ICSSR, which in turn had asked about six  institutions to map the backwardness of the community in various States that stand to benefit such as Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

But First it was Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999,who  promised  the facility of reservations to Jats, Bishnois, Meos and other communities that have been deprived of it for historical or social reasons.

While addressing a public meeting in Sikar, Rajasthan, Vajpayee had said the Centre had received the recommendations of the Other Backward Classes Commission, but they could not be implemented beacause of the Congress.Vajpayee laid all responsibility for the delay in according OBC status to the Jats and others at the door of the Congress and said that party does not want stability if it is not in power.
In 2012 ,Union home minister P Chidambaram  had already  assured a delegation of Congress leaders led by Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda that he would ask the National Commission for Backward Classes to expedite the report on the demand for including Jats irrespective of their region or religion in the central list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) for reservation in jobs and educational institutions of the central government.


 Hooda  and the delegation of leaders from Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh  said the Jats were essentially an agrarian community contributing to the country's agricultural produce. But more than 95% of the community was living as marginal farmers with an average land holding of less than two acres.



PASMANDA VOTE BANK:
It is being reported that a group of Pasmanda activists from the states of Bihar, Delhi, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh. Representatives of All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz (UP), All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz (Bihar), Pasmanda Front (UP), Muslim All Backward Classes Organization (Maharashtra), Tambolian Jamaat (Maharashtra), All India United Muslim Morcha (UP), Pasmanda Intellectual Forum, JNU (Delhi), Association for Muslim Dalits (UP), Pasmanda Kranti Abhiyan (UP), Samajik Nyaya Manch (UP), Pichda Samaj Mahasabha met in July  and have set up  a political agenda for Lok Sabha elections to be held in 2014.

The political agenda asks for boycotting of all political parties who support reservation for all Muslims and  asks the political parties to give tickets to Pasmanda Muslims.The group says that this demand is “ashraf-driven” and “a ploy to bring the ashraf castes within the ambit of reservations.” Ashraf refers to upper caste Muslims while Pasmanda is a term used for dalit and Backward Muslims. Pasmanda Muslims are already covered in OBC category.