CURATED BY – RAJIV KHARE | CITYCHIEFNEWS

Raipur, The political atmosphere has heated up in Chhattisgarh over OBC reservation. A round of sharp allegations and counter-allegations continues between the Congress and the BJP on this issue. Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Deepak Baij targeted the BJP and said that it is doing injustice to half the population of the state.
The Congress government led by Bhupesh Baghel had passed a proposal in the Assembly to increase OBC reservation to 27% during its tenure. Under this proposal, there was a plan to take the total reservation in Chhattisgarh to 58%, in which there was a talk of giving 13% reservation to Scheduled Castes (SC), 32% to Scheduled Tribes (ST), and 27% to OBCs.

However, the High Court issued a stay order on this, banning reservation of more than 50% in the state. The court gave this order citing Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution, in which the limit of reservation has been fixed at 50%.

PCC Chief Deepak Baij accused the BJP and said that its policies are against the OBC community. Baij said, "The BJP deliberately complicated the issue and did not effectively plead in the court. Due to this, the OBC community of Chhattisgarh is being deprived of their rights." Baij raised the question that when more than 50% reservation can be implemented in states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, why can't it be done in Chhattisgarh. He accused the BJP government of adopting double standards and said that the party's policies are anti-OBC.

On the other hand, the BJP has accused the Congress of doing cheap politics. The BJP spokesperson says that the Congress government took the decision to increase the reservation without following the constitutional framework, due to which the court rejected it. The BJP also claimed that the Congress government had raised the issue only for electoral gain.

The matter of OBC reservation in the state is now pending in the Supreme Court. Both Congress and BJP are trying to capitalize on this issue for the upcoming assembly elections. Constitutional experts believe that states should follow constitutional provisions in the matter of reservation. The issue may be resolved after the ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court, but political rhetoric is likely to continue until then. Given the large population of OBC community in Chhattisgarh, this issue can play an important role in the upcoming elections. Now it remains to be seen in which direction the court's decision and political equations take this matter.