Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde has demanded a headcount of OBCs in the 2011 Census exercise, arguing that this is imperative if benefits of government schemes are to adequately reach the OBC population. Munde also appeared to be in agreement with the demand for a sub-quota for OBC women in the Women's Reservation Bill.
Like the Congress, the BJP is opposed to counting OBCs as a separate category in the Census, with the argument that this would strengthen caste identities. When asked about this, Munde told The Sunday Express that "OBCs constituted a class", adding that "over 6,000 communities were bracketed under OBCs". He added that the "Union government once failed to present an accurate estimate of OBCs in the Supreme Court, in a case related to IITs", a reason why the matter acquires urgency.
While Munde first made this demand at a convention of OBC leaders in Mumbai on Saturday, where NCP's Chaggan Bhujbal was also present, he went a step further while talking to this paper and said there should be an OBC sub-quota in the Women's Reservation Bill. The BJP is, however, firmly against any quota within quota in the Bill.
"Some women groups demanding an OBC sub-quota in the Bill approached me for party's support. While I told them that I am bound by the party discipline, and thus opposed to the demand in principle, I am also sympathetic to their demand at the same time," he told this paper.
Munde belongs to the Vanjari community (a denotified tribe, and regarded as an OBC community, outside the state) and was considered a rival of Nitin Gadkari when the two were confined to Maharashtra. After Gadkari's elevation as national BJP president, Munde was made the deputy Leader of Opposition in the LS.
Munde has, in the past, also demanded reservation for SCs and STs in the private sector. Asked if his present demand had something to do with BJP's intra-party dynamics, Munde said: "I've fought for the cause of social justice in Maharashtra. Deendayal Upadhyay's antodyaya was all about furthering the cause of the disadvantaged. I'm talking about social justice, and I'm thus only talking about Deendayal Upadhyay's ideals."
Sharing the dais, Bhujbal supported Munde's view on women's Bill but stressed the need for a separate Bill for OBC reservation in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies.
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