Union Minister Bhupender Yadav accuses West Bengal Govt of misusing OBC reservation for “appeasement politics”

New Delhi [India], August 22 (ANI): Union Minister Bhupender Yadav on Thursday criticised the West Bengal government and the INDIA alliance for allegedly exploiting OBC reservations for political gain.

He claimed that they have included 75 Muslim communities in the OBC list without following the legal standards for OBC inclusion.

“It is sad that the opposition parties are doing injustice to the OBCs. OBC vote and OBC counting are matters of politics for them. The biggest example of this is seen in the affidavit given by the West Bengal government to the Supreme Court. The Chairman of the OBC Commission informed that 77 castes have been included in the OBC list in West Bengal, of which 75 castes are from the Muslim community. This means, did the West Bengal government consider the standards of the law for inclusion of OBCs while including them?” said Yadav.

Yadav stated that the West Bengal government’s actions are a clear example of appeasement politics, citing the inclusion of the Khota Muslim community in the OBC list without inquiring about their backward status. He questioned whether the OBC reservation was being used for political gain.

“We can take the Khota Muslim community as an example, they filed an application on 13 November 2009 for their inclusion in OBCs and the government included them in the list on the same day. Did they inquire about their backward status? Without any inquiry, the state government included them in the list. There was a survey for various communities including Qazi, etc. But they included them as well in the list. We want to ask that today when this matter is pending in the Supreme Court, a question arises in everyone’s mind after looking at the facts, is OBC reservation for their appeasement politics? Is this the policy of the Congress-led INDI alliance? As Mamata Banerjee also supports the INDI alliance,” said Yadav.

Yadav condemned the INDIA bloc, accusing them of using OBCs for vote bank politics. He alleged that governments in Telangana, Karnataka, and West Bengal have snatched reservations from Hindu OBCs and given them to minority Muslims to satisfy their appeasement politics.

“What BJP has always said that Mamata Banerjee and INDI alliance does the appeasement politics is not wrong. Now, the leaders of the INDI alliance should tell why the governments of Telangana, Karnataka and now West Bengal are using the OBCs and giving their reservations to Muslims for their vote bank politics. West Bengal government added 75 communities to the OBC list without any survey or scientific data. These governments have snatched the reservation of Hindu OBCs and given it to the minority Muslims just to satisfy their appeasement politics. Their appeasement politics should be condemned and people should know about it and punish them,” said Yadav.

The Union Minister demanded that the leaders of the INDIA alliance explain their actions and warned that people should be aware of their appeasement politics and punish them accordingly.