THE OBC PUSHBACK

A new political outfit aims to take on Maratha candidates in 18 out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats to secure socio-political space for OBCs

- Dhaval S. Kulkarni

Caste is back to stir the political pot in Maharashtra, with leaders from the Other Backward Class (OBC) groups launching their own party ahead of the Lok Sabha election. Named the OBC Bahujan Party, it plans to put up candidates in 18 of the 48 parliamentary seats in the state in a bid to challenge what its leaders claim to be the dominance of the Marathas in Maharashtra’s polity.

The Marathas and OBCs have historically competed for social and political space in the state. But the immediate trigger here is the Maratha quota stir launched by activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, the resultant violence targeted at OBC leaders, and the Eknath Shinde-led government’s decision to facilitate the extension of the 27 per cent OBC quota to those Marathas who can prove their lineage from Kunbis (peasants or tillers) besides a separate 10 per cent reservation for the community in jobs and education.