The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) started its Lok Sabha election campaign with the ‘Muslim Quota’ charge that may have been a Karnataka issue, but was advertised by the party across India to make a case for appeasement politics against the Congress and INDIA bloc. With just two phases of the elections left, the BJP’s campaign has got a fresh lease of life as the Calcutta High Court cancelled all certificates issued to several classes under Other Backward Classes (OBCs) issued in West Bengal since 2010, calling them “illegal”.
There are 179 castes on the state list of OBC castes in West Bengal. According to Hansraj Ahir, the Chairman of the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), 118 are from the Muslim community. The state’s OBC list consists of two types: Category A and Category B. In Category A, there are a total of 81 communities out of which 73 are Muslim while just 8 are Hindu, claimed Ahir. Meanwhile in Category B, there are a total of 98 communities out of which 45 are Muslims while 53 are Hindus, according to him.
Last year, during the Panchayat election in Bengal, both the BJP and the TMC sparred over the issue while legally it was being weighed in the court. Now, in the middle of the Lok Sabha election, comes the Calcutta High Court order.
BJP TARGETS INDIA BLOC, NOT JUST TMC
The first public rally of the Prime Minister after the judgement came out was scheduled at 6 PM on Wednesday at Delhi’s Dwarka. Losing no time, he called the judgement a “slap on the INDI alliance” saying that TMC gave Muslims OBC certificates for their “vote bank politics.”
“This is appeasement. These people say Muslims have the first right over the country’s resources. These people are giving government land to the waqf board to get them to vote for them. They want to reserve a 15% budget for minorities. They want to give loans, and government tenders on the basis of religion,” PM Modi said, raking up a charge of appeasement with which the BJP went to town at the beginning of the poll season. Now, with a legal stamp, the BJP’s charge has got a fresh lease of life in the last leg of the election.
Home Minister Amit Shah, who was in West Bengal on Wednesday, hit out at the TMC. “I welcome the decision of the High Court. Mamata ji said that we do not accept the decision of the High Court. I want to ask the people of Bengal, can there be such a Chief Minister, who will say that we do not obey the court’s order? I strongly condemn this and welcome the decision of the High Court and we will definitely ensure that the decision of the High Court is implemented,” said Shah.
What’s interesting is the BJP isn’t targeting the TMC alone but the entire INDIA bloc as well, not limiting it to just Bengal, but making a case of alleged minority appeasement by the INDIA bloc constituents across India. BJP’s West Bengal in-charge Amit Malviya shared a video of Shah on X (previously Twitter) while saying, “Congress tried it in Telangana and Karnataka, Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal. If we have to save our Constitution and India, members of I.N.D.I Alliance have to be kept miles away from power.”
THE IMPACT ON 6TH & 7TH PHASES
The immediate effect of the order and the politics over it is expected to be felt in West Bengal where Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Purulia, Bankura, Bishnupur, Jhhargram and Medinipur will go to polls in the sixth phase. What has helped the BJP increase its tirade was Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s immediate reaction where she said she “will not accept” the order. “I respect the courts. But I do not accept the judgment that says Muslims should be kept out of OBC reservation. OBC reservations will continue. We will go to a higher court if need be,” Banerjee announced.
The BJP is also likely to hit out at INDIA allies like RJD in Bihar, Samajwadi Party and Congress in Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand Mukti Mocha in Jhharkhand during its rallies and road shows in the next few days before the sixth phase of the election.
Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur, Azamgarh, Allahabad and Jaunpur will go to vote in a few days just like Bihar’s Valmiki Nagar, Paschim Champaran, Purvi Champaran and Gopalganj among others seats will go to vote. Haryana, where the Congress is hoping to make a turnaround this time, may have to face BJP’s sharp campaign over this issue for being an ally of the TMC. All ten seats of Haryana, including Rohtak where Congress’s Deependra Singh Hooda is fighting, will go to vote on May 25. In Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Giridhi will go to polls on the same day where Hemant Soren’s JMM will have to withstand BJP’s attacks locally.
In this phase, a total of 58 Lok Sabha constituencies spread across six states and two Union territories will go to polls. All the seven seats in Delhi will go to polls in this phase. In the last phase, there will be nine seats of Bengal that alone may not face the heat of this row but also 13 UP and 8 Bihar constituencies.
It was late April and the Lok Sabha election was just getting started when PM Modi accused the Congress of including Muslims as a whole in the OBC list in Karnataka “through the backdoor”. As the election has reached its final leg, the BJP has got a legal order to claim the TMC included Muslims in the OBC category as well which the court itself has ruled ‘illegal’. The BJP couldn’t have asked for a better timing.
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