Congress-BJP Spar Over Reservation to Backward Classes in Madhya Pradesh

The row erupted after state Congress chief Kamal Nath was felicitated by bodies representing backward classes.

Shivraj Singh Chauhan & Kamal Nath

(Photo: The Quint)

A political face-off between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress has erupted in Madhya Pradesh over the issue of reservation for backward classes in the state.

Both the parties entered into a verbal spat after organisations representing the backward classes felicitated the former chief minister and state Congress chief Kamal Nath, giving him the credit for 27 percent reservation to the backward classes.

Addressing the felicitation ceremony, Kamal Nath said: "Reservation was your (backward classes) right and I gave it to you. As soon as Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru took over as the Prime Minister, he decided to end the Zamindari system and with the abolishment of the Zamindari, the backward classes were benefitted the most."

He further said that today, there is 52 percent backward class population in the state, and most of them are facing unemployment. "I believe that 70 per cent of the jobs should be given to local people, even I had taken a decision in this regard."

"Our government lasted for 15 months, of which two-and-a-half months were passed in elections. Despite this, the loans of 27 lakh farmers were waived off, out of them the highest number of beneficiaries were from backward classes," Kamal Nath added.

"You all know the history of BJP. Prime Minister Prime Modi talks a lot but never talks about the interest of backward classes. They talk about partition, temples, associating politics with religion, but we talk about connecting hearts, connecting relationships," the Congress leader asserted.

Rajya Sabha MP and state president of Madhya Pradesh Backward Classes Organisation Rajmani Patel thanked Kamal Nath for "giving" 27 percent reservation to the backward classes and said that the entire backward class society of the state would always lend its support to Kamal Nath and Congress. "By forming the government again in 2023, the people of the state will be freed from the fear, hunger and corruption prevailing under the BJP government."

In retaliation, the BJP attacked the Congress and Kamal Nath. State President of the party's Backward Class Morcha Bhagat Singh Kushwaha has condemned Kamal Nath for "felicitating himself by the so-called backward class organisations."

He said that the political history of Congress is witness to the fact that it has always been conspiring to topple Dalit, backward, and tribal leaders.

Kushwaha further claimed that the Congress government led by Kamal Nath had attacked the backward classes' interests the most. "For its electoral gains, the Kamal Nath government created a gimmick of 27 per cent reservation and disruptions in the process of panchayat elections to snatch the political rights of the backward classes."

Despite doing "all" this, Kamal Nath is "shamelessly pretending" to respect the people of the same backward class whereas he should have apologised to the people for his "anti-backward class antics," Kushwaha asserted.