Mahayuti goes all out to woo OBC vote bank

MUMBAI: In order to consolidate the Other Backward Classes (OBC) vote ahead of the assembly elections, the state cabinet on Thursday decided to request the union government to approve an increase in the non-creamy-layer income limit for OBCs to ₹15 lakh from the current ₹8 lakh. Along with this, the cabinet approved economic development corporations for five more castes in the OBC category: Shimpis (tailors), Gawlis (milkmen), Lad-Vanis (traders), Lohars (ironsmiths) and people belonging to the Nath sect.
The courting of the OBC vote bank began after the Maratha protests, the subsequent Maratha-OBC strife and its impact on the performance of the Mahayuti in the Lok Sabha elections, The OBCs have largely supported the BJP and undivided Shiv Sena for the last three decades since the time of the late BJP leader Gopinath Munde. As per the estimate of the State Backward Class Commission, the OBC population in the state is around 38%.
According to officials from the OBC Bahujan Kalyan department, once the union government approves the increase in the creamy layer income limit, a large section of the community will get the benefit of reservation in education and jobs. “Due to the several pay commissions, many government employees have crossed the annual income limit of ₹8 lakh and are thus ineligible for OBC reservation,” said an official. “Once the income limit is increased, a large section of the community will reap the benefits.”
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The Mahayuti-led government from last month has also taken several other politically expedient decisions pertaining to other communities, such as the formation of economic development corporations, financial assistance to the organisations of these communities and more money for existing housing schemes. In the last cabinet meeting held on October 4, the cabinet approved the formation of seven new corporations—one each for the Jains, Telis, Baris, Lonaris, Hindu-Khatiks and two for the fishermen community. Along with this, it approved a ₹10-lakh subsidy for Buddhist organisations and also renamed the BDD chawls at Naigaon Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar BDD complex.
On Thursday, the cabinet also approved eight more economic development corporations, with five of these being for OBC castes: the Sola Kulswamini Economic Development Corporation for the Lad-Vani (trader) community, the Brahmalin Acharya Divyanand Puriji Maharaj Economic Development Corporation for the Lohar (blacksmith) community, the Sant Namdev Maharaj Economic Development Corporation for the Shimpi (tailor) community, the Shrikrushna Economic Development Corporation for the Gawli (milkman) community and one economic development corporation for the Nath community.
The cabinet also approved economic development corporations for journalists and newspaper distributors and the Nagnathanna Naikwadi Economic Development Corporation for the rehabilitation and development of project-affected people in the state.