New Delhi: Ahead of the Assembly polls in five states scheduled for next year, the OBC wing of Bharatiya Janata Party has announced to organise an "Abhinandan Sabha" on August 7 to honour the 27 newly inducted OBC Union ministers in the Modi cabinet, said UP BJP MP and national general secretary of BJP Morcha Sangam Lal Gupta on Thursday.
Notably, the showcase by BJP is being done at a time when the opposition parties in the country have been continuously demanding a caste-wise census in 2021. The opposition parties say that the reason for the caste-wise census is that if it happens, all the castes will get to know that how much representation they have in the society and on that basis the different schemes could be initiated for their betterment.
However, the Narendra Modi-led NDA government has steered clear of the issue and on July 20, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai told the Parliament that the government has decided to not conduct a caste census and the only caste-wise data the next census would be on Dalits and Adivasis only.
It is pertinent to mention here that among the NDA allies, Janata Dal (United) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union Minister for social justice and Republican Party of India (RPI) chief Ramdas Athawale are now continuously advocating for a caste-wise census in 2021.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Sangam Lal Gupta, the parliamentarian from Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh, said, "To honour the 27 newly-inducted OBC ministers in the Modi cabinet, the OBC Morcha of Bharatiya Janata Party is going to organise felicitation ceremony on 7 August. Subsequently, from 16 August all the newly-inducted ministers will undertake Jan Ashirwad across the country."
Gupta said the announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 27% reservation for OBCs and 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections (EWS) in the All India Quota (AIQ) scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical/dental courses will definitely help in the upliftment of backward classes and the people of Uttar Pradesh will vote in favour of BJP and we will win more than 350 seats.
The BJP MP also informed about BJP president JP Nadda's visit to Uttar Pradesh on August 7-8. He said the party president will be meeting different wings of the party and the party's OBC state unit will also be meeting him to seek his guidance for the upcoming state assembly elections.
Asked about Om Prakash Rajbhar, the president of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) meeting with Swatantra Dev Singh, BJP's UP president on Tuesday, Gupta said, "Party's doors are always open for him because BJP is the only party which works for the betterment of the country and society. BJP is not a party of dynasties like SP, BSP or Congress which only work for their own interests."
Speaking on SP and BSP rallies and meetings to capture Brahmin vote bank in the assembly elections, he said, "they tried to divide the people in the name of religion but now the people have realised their hidden agendas and now everyone is with BJP."
