Naveen Patnaik's OBC turn to outfox BJP

Patnaik limited BJP's influence by spending on development works in and around Odisha's temples and has now moved quickly to check its OBC politics too

Amid calls for a caste-based census, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's demand to ascertain the numbers of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) is intriguing. Unlike the Hindi heartland, Odisha is not known for its overt OBC politics. But like that of his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar, Patnaik's move has discomforted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has played the OBC card in a veiled manner in Odisha since its prime focus was on Hindutva.

When, in August, Parliament passed the constitutional amendment bill to restore states' power to make their own OBC lists, a delegation of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MPs met Union Home Minister Amit Shah to demand a caste-based census. They also demanded central legislation to do away with the 50 per cent cap on reservations.

In Odisha, its Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) population comprise over 38 per cent of its people, making its cases exceptional. It, therefore, could not provide 27 per cent reservation to OBCs without breaching the 50 per cent ceiling. Odisha currently provides 11.25 per cent reservations for OBCs in government jobs. According to the 1931 Census, the number of OBCs in Odisha was 52 per cent.

While it had capped the quota for SCs, STs and OBCs at 50 per cent in urban local bodies and panchayats, reservation exceeding 50 per cent in some municipal bodies was challenged in the past. The Orissa High Court directed the state government to limit reservation to 50 per cent, and the Supreme Court had upheld the order.

The High Court had in 2017 struck down the Odisha Reservation of Posts and Services (For Socially and Educationally Backward Classes) Act, 2008, which had provisioned for 27 per cent reservations for the backward classes in government jobs.

However, recently the Patnaik government piloted a resolution in the Odisha Assembly seeking to remove the 50 per cent ceiling to enable 27 per cent reservation to OBCs.

Last year, the state government also set up the Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes (OSCBC), based on the OSCBC Act, 1993. The government's action came after National Commission for Backward Classes chairperson Bhagwan Lal Sahni criticised Odisha for not appointing the commission and not reserving a 27 per cent quota for backward classes in jobs and educational institutions.

Also read: Nearly half of rural households OBC, most in Tamil Nadu: Data

Further, the Odisha State Backward Classes (Amendment) Bill was also passed in the Assembly this year, enabling the OSCBC to survey the social and educational conditions of the people belonging to the backward classes. Subsequently, the government approved a proposal of OSCBC to conduct the survey. The survey's findings, carried out in May this year, have not been made public so far.

Patnaik started playing the caste card ahead of the 2019 elections in which BJP's vote share saw a dramatic increase – from 18 per cent in 2014 to 31.6 per cent in 2019, with the saffron party striving to consolidate the support of the backward classes. The BJP highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's OBC roots in the run-up to the 2019 polls. Also, union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who belonged to the backward classes, inducted many OBC leaders into the BJP before the simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly in 2019.

After coming to power in 2000 riding an anti-Congress wave in alliance with the BJP, the BJD has primarily relied on its women support base to win elections. Before parting ways with the BJP ahead of the 2009 polls, Patnaik had launched the Rs two per kilo rice scheme in 2008 and the rice per Rs one per kilo scheme before the 2014 polls. Anticipating a robust BJP challenge in the 2019 polls, Patnaik launched the KALIA scheme, essentially a financial package, for farmers and landless agricultural labourers.

The BJP, which has a good support base in western Odisha, has strived to woo the Khandayats in the coastal belt in the last few years by highlighting the Paika rebellion against the British and providing financial support for the construction of a memorial on the foothills of a mountain near Bhubaneswar.

Despite the Patnaik government's efforts to make the backward classes happy, the opposition parties have continued to question its commitment to OBCs. They have accused the state government of not making sincere efforts to ensure 27 per cent reservation for backward classes in government jobs and educational institutions.

The 21-member council of ministers headed by Patnaik has as many as nine ministers belonging to the upper castes that comprise about six per cent of the population – five Brahmins, three Kayasthas (Karan) and one Kshatriya.

There are, however, five ministers who are Khandayats. The Khandayats, who constitute 22 per cent of the population, are on the state's list of SEBCs, but not included in the central list of OBCs. Four ministers are STs, two SCs, and one an OBC. Upper castes also dominate the state administration. There have been instances when senior officials belonging to lower castes were sidelined in appointments to top posts in the bureaucracy.

Since the upper castes have dominated Odisha's politics all these years, barring few exceptions, the Khandayats, a land-holding caste, have been fighting for their rights by challenging the dominance of Kayasthas and Brahmins. They, however, have remained with the upper castes while claiming to be champions of the OBCs. Many of these leaders had opposed the Mandal Commission recommendations in the past. In Odisha, this social coalition is termed the state's second KBK – Karan, Brahmin and Khandayat.

The Patnaik government has largely succeeded in preventing the BJP from uniting people on religious lines by taking up major developmental works at several temples across the state. Moreover, the population of Christians and Muslims in Odisha was 2.77 per cent and 2.17 per cent, respectively (2011 Census).

Patnaik is now trying his best to stay ahead of the saffron party in terms of caste politics too. As the demand for caste-based census gains ground, 27 per cent reservation for backward classes remains a big question in Odisha.

(The writer is a journalist based in Bhubaneswar)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.

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