In its endeavour to win the West Bengal elections, BJP is focusing on women and OBC voters, who, if put together, would constitute around two-thirds of the state’s total voters. The successive governments in West Bengal – whether of the Communists or of Mamata Banerjee – have often ignored the Hindu OBCs while Muslim OBCs have been brought to the forefront for their benefits.
The state has a 17 per cent quota for OBCs, 10 per cent of which is reserved for Muslims. Hindu OBCs constitute more than half of the total OBC population but their quota share is less than that of the Muslims. JP Nadda, the President of BJP, criticised Muslim appeasement by the political parties from West Bengal.
He said, “The biggest example of appeasement [in Bengal] are OBC reservations. To the OBC list were also added minorities – and in large numbers.”
“It is due to the votebank politics of appeasement that backward castes from our Hindu religion such as Mahishya and Tili have been kept away from reservations. When we come to power we will set up a commission to try and ensure that all castes identified by the Mandal Commission are included in the mainstream,” he added.
The Matua and Mahisya community, which constitute more than one-fifth of the state’s total population, are being brought forward on the political map of the state by BJP after being ignored for decades. Apart from the OBCs, BJP is focusing on women, who constitute around 49 per cent of the state’s total voter and have rallied behind Mamata Banerjee in the last decade. In its manifesto released recently, the party promised free KG to PG (postgraduate), free public transport, free healthcare, and 33 per cent reservation to women in government jobs, and many other sops.
In Bihar, the schemes targeted towards welfare and upliftment of women helped BJP-JD(U) to come to power again after almost 15 years of anti-incumbency. The party is trying to repeat the success it achieved in Bihar in West Bengal as well.
In the name of Communism, the upliftment of the socially marginalised communities like SC, ST, OBC, and women has been ignored in West Bengal for decades under successive Communist and Mamata Banerjee governments.
The politics of West Bengal has always been dominated by Bhadralok Community, which constitutes three upper castes- Brahmin, Baidya, and Kayastha. These castes account for just 20 per cent of the state’s total population. But, all the CMs of the state– whether of CPM, Congress, or TMC– have been from the Bhadralok community. OBCs, SCs, and STs never had a say in the politics of Bengal. And this was because the Communist Party never recognised the role of caste in social upliftment.
Mamata Banerjee, the CM of the state for the last nine years, ran the government just like the Communists before her. The only difference was that she carried out even a greater degree of Muslim appeasement.
Since the early 2010s, RSS has been tirelessly working in the state, especially in the OBC and ST-dominated areas. Dilip Ghosh, the current President of West Bengal BJP, who was appointed in 2015, comes from Sadgop caste and is from the Jungle Mahal region-one of the backward regions of the state- of West Bengal. Therefore, BJP is targeting the Hindu OBC, SC, and ST, and women votes to come to power in the state.
Presumably, in the 2021 assembly elections, the people from the non-Bhadralok community are going to reclaim their rightful place in West Bengal’s politics and this will change the image of the state forever. The left-front and the TMC have destroyed the economy of the state, therefore, a regime change is necessary to put the state back on the path of growth. Now, only a regime change can bring back the golden days of ‘Amar Sonar Bangla’.