New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership is keen to reset the political narrative to keep the spotlight on issues such as the government’s “development model” and “accomplishments in the economic and other sectors” to avert being caught in a bind between pro-reservation and anti-reservation groups exerting pressure on the government to meet their demands, said people aware of the details.
The BJP has successfully used social engineering to give representation to various castes and communities, particularly socially marginalised groups. “We will go to the people with the details of the policy decisions taken to improve the lives of the marginalised. The group has demanded that caste-based reservation in education and government jobs be replaced with quotas based on income. The government did not disclose details of the meeting.
Last week, Union minister JP Nadda met representatives of the group behind the ‘Reservation Hatao Andolan’ at Jantar Mantar on August 21.
However, several party leaders said the so-called upper castes (UCs), a core BJP votebank, are showing signs of disenchantment over issues including political representation and are demanding a review of caste-based quotas in government jobs and educational institutions. “There has been a long-standing demand to revisit the existing quotas for the SC, ST and OBCs, but the discontent among the UCs was exacerbated by the UGC (University Grants Commission) equity regulation (that has been challenged in court)…” a senior BJP functionary said on condition of anonymity. The functionary said the party also faces challenges from continuing anger over paper leaks and irregularities in the education sector, while the issue of sub-categorisation of quotas has triggered a war of words between two NDA allies, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM). “…All together these are challenges for the government,” the functionary added. But we also want the UCs to acknowledge that the government has made efforts to address their concerns as well,” the functionary said. Nadda, however, said in a social media post that the sides would “meet again soon.”
