Assembly Elections: Congress' caste pitch non-starter in Rajasthan
OBCs in our country? No one can tell you because there is a reason. There is a conspiracy, they do not want to tell you about your real population," said Rahul Gandhi at a rally on Thursday in Jat-dominated Hanumangarh constituency promising a caste survey if Congress government is voted back to power.
About 600 kilometres away in Chittorgarh, ask Rajkumar Khateek about Congress' promise of a caste survey, he looks blankly.
This 35-year-old fruit seller at Chittorgarh bus stand says he is an OBC and has always voted BJP. Has the government worked? «Ashok Gehlot government has given us everything — free electricity, my children get good mid day meals in school and my mother gets old age pension,» he says. But Rajkumar says he will still vote BJP.
Travel north towards Jaipur and the numerically strong and politically influential Jat community is upset with BJP over removal of Satish Poonia, a Jat, as the state BJP president. Around this belt, the wrestlers issue is also recalled by Jats to bring up how Brij Bhushan Singh, a Rajput, was allowed to continue despite the wrestlers protest. In a state whose politics is steeped in caste, OBC vote is an important votebank being courted by both parties.
IMPORTANCE OF OBC VOTE
Of the 200 seats in Rajasthan Assembly, 30% of the elected MLAs are from OBC communities.
BJP holds all 25 parliamentary seats in Rajasthan and 11 MPs are OBCs. According to 2011 Census, Scheduled Castes comprise 17.8% and Scheduled Tribes 13.5% of the population of Rajasthan. Though there is no exact number but OBCs comprise about 35-40% of the population.
Jats are the most dominant OBCs. Both Congress and BJP have been mindful of the political heft of OBCs in distributing tickets in Rajasthan. BJP has
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