After the Orissa High Court struck down the state government’s provisions of reservation for backward castes in the upcoming three-tier panchayat elections, opposition parties have been vocal in their attacks on the government. Opposition BJP and Congress have accused Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his Biju Janata Dal (BJD) of being “anti-OBC”. In a state not known for the role of caste in electoral politics, there is now a competition among political parties to promote the cause of caste.
Panchayat elections in Odisha are likely to be held in February 2022 as the terms of elected panchayat representatives are set to expire on March 10, 2022. The High Court on 22 December quashed the draft notification on reservation for these elections, citing two Supreme Court judgments. On similar cases related to Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh earlier this month. Now the Odisha government will have to conduct body elections without any OBC quota.
The issue of OBC reservation is currently a hot topic of discussion across the state, with political parties apparently trying to capitalize on the matter as elections are nearing. Opposition parties have accused the Naveen Patnaik government of “half-heartedly” presenting the issue of reservation in the High Court, but the ruling BJD has rubbished all their allegations.
On December 24, a war of words broke out between two top leaders of the BJP and BJD over the matter, which shows how important the issue of OBC reservation could be for Odisha politics in future. As BJP leader and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan claimed on Twitter that Patnaik’s government is “against OBC reservations,” top BJD leader Pranab Prakash refuted his allegations and urged him to stop politicizing the issue of reservation. .
“The disclosure of incidents related to reservation for OBCs in the upcoming Panchayat elections makes it clear that the state government is against OBC reservation. In this case, the appearance of the Advocate General of Odisha in the High Court seems clearly anti-OBC. Even after the state government’s plea to give benefits to OBC groups through the system of more than 50 per cent reservation is pending in the Supreme Court for a long time, it is painful and worrying that the state government has not thought of it,” Pradhan said in one Tweet.
In another tweet, the Union Minister for Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship said, “The Odisha government has not followed the legally upright and proper path to ensure that OBC groups get the benefits of reservation in Panchayat elections.”
The 52-year-old Pradhan, a two-time Union minister from Odisha and belonging to the OBC group, is seen as the BJP’s chief ministerial face in the state in case the saffron party comes to power in the 2024 assembly elections. His tweet referred to BJD’s organizational secretary, 49-year-old Pranab Prakash Das, a three-time MLA and former minister, informally known as “No. 2” in BJD after Chief Minister.
“Brother, you are a Union Minister elected to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh. Your party has been ruling there for many years. Why did you fail to ensure OBC reservation there? Supreme Court has set aside OBC reservation policy for elections in Madhya Pradesh,” Das said in a series of tweets.
Das further said, “Brother, BJD is committed to reserve 40 percent seats for OBC candidates in Panchayat elections. We can increase it to 50 percent also. We will publish the names of BJD candidates selected through reservation. I urge you to ensure that BJP does the same.
“Brother, I urge you not to indulge in politics and come forward to work unitedly to implement reservation policy for OBCs in elections. I am sure you will extend your support for the empowerment of OBC groups,” Das said in his third tweet.
Although an OBC commission was constituted by the Odisha government in February 2020, the commission is yet to conduct a survey to collect data on backwardness and specify the proportion of reservation. This was one of the reasons behind the HC quashing the government’s notification on reservation for panchayat elections.
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