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Lok Sabha elections 2019| ‘OBCs disturbed, but won’t leave BJP’, says Pankaja Munde
Pankaja Munde said that OBCs who are said to make up 52% of the state’s population were disturbed due to the 16% reservation granted by her government to the Marathas. But she also added that the community continued to place trust in the BJP.
Rural development minister and the Other Backward Class (OBC) face of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Pankaja Munde, in an interview with Hindustan Times, admitted that caste politics would be an important factor in play during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra.
Munde said that OBCs who are said to make up 52% of the state’s population were disturbed due to the 16% reservation granted by her government to the Marathas. But she also added that the community continued to place trust in the BJP.
“I am sure OBCs will not choose Congress-NCP over us because those parties have ignored them for decades. There is unrest among OBCs, but some of that has also been created by those who feel they will lose out on Maratha votes because of our reservation decision,’’ said Munde.
The minister, who is responsible for the party in Marathwada and is a star campaigner across the state, said that she did not see the agrarian crisis or the drought as leading to an anti-BJP sentiment or discontent among people, because of the pro-farmer schemes rolled out by her government.
And, she believes the Modi wave is still strong and would play a crucial role in ensuring her party a second term in power.
Excerpts from the interview
Do you see an impact of caste polarisation in the election? Your government gave 16% reservation to the agitating Maratha community but hasn’t that alienated the OBCs?
I don’t feel very comfortable when it comes to differentiating or identifying people only on the basis of their caste or community. But it is the fate of our politics that caste continues to be a main identification marker. This needs to change. Having said that, in Maharashtra, owing to Maratha protests and Dalit agitations, there is a perception that there is unrest among these communities. I think the unrest among Marathas was against the previous ruling class in the state and the country. Many in the former ruling parties who came from this community did nothing for their own people. Our government corrected that and we granted reservation to the community. I think after this, Marathas will not just vote on basis of caste, but also on the basis of our government’s decision. This, however, has created a political scenario where OBCs are not comfortable.
OBCs are seen as largely a BJP support base. Do you think your party will face a backlash from the community because of this discomfort ?
They [OBCs[ are disturbed and a little restless because they perceive the Maratha reservation as having taken up their space in the quota. However, I don’t think they will shift [their party loyalty] because they still believe in our government. Some of this unrest is also created by those who think they will lose out on the Maratha votes because of our decision.
I am sure that OBCs will not choose Congress-NCP over us because those parties have ignored their demands for decades. Whereas, we have been very proactive. In the case of Dhangar (shepherd) reservation, we took a cabinet decision to ensure benefits to the community are at par with the scheduled tribes. Everything, but political reservation has been taken care off. That too was not in our hands as we can only make a favourable recommendation to the centre.
Your sister will be contesting from Beed constituency. The poll battle in Beed is always a high-decibel NCP vs BJP battle. In this case it will be both — the battle between the parties and you versus your cousin Dhananjay Munde.
There are some districts in Maharashtra where poll battles can be vicious. In Beed, we have always encountered this. The polls will be closely contested where personal agendas and slurs can often overshadow the real issues and politics. When my father was alive, he faced this and I learnt how to handle the poll battle. But for me the good news is that despite being in power for five years, I can see that there is no negativity against our government. There are expectations, but we don’t have a trust deficit among people.
In 2014, BJP came into power riding the Modi wave. In 2019, the perception is the wave has receded and you will have to contest and win on local issues, from agrarian crisis and drought to unemployment and caste politics.
I don’t agree that there is no Modi wave. It is very much there and it will be a crucial factor that will take us to victory. I also think a lot more is made of the agrarian crisis in media than it is in reality.
The reality is that we as a government have taken several decisions from loan waivers to crop insurance schemes. The Centre’s Kisan Sanman Nidhi that offers ?6,000 to farmers annually will go a long way to help the situation on ground. Our other welfare schemes like Ujala Yojana, Awaas Yojana, Matrutwa Yojana, setting up of women self-help groups have helped provide a support base for rural poor and farmers.
Drought is very much there in Marathwada and there is also water scarcity. But the government has also ushered in relief measures.
What role will you play in the Lok sabha polls ? How are the co-ordination issues with Shiv Sena being resolved?
Besides handling my sister’s constituency and co-ordinating for Marathwada region, I will be campaigning across the state for the party candidates.
We will do well in Marathwada. We will have to maintain our tally or do better. There was no alliance during the Assembly polls in 2014 as a result of which, in many places there are leaders of both parties who have established their space and now feel threatened post alliance. But we are resolving the issues by looking at the best possible candidate for NDA.
The BJP has criticised Congress over dynasty politics. But you also come from a political family. Your sister is an MP, your cousin (Poonam Mahajan) is also an MP.
In my political life, I have never criticised dynasty politics. I think a family name can only give you an opportunity, the rest depends on what you make of that opportunity.
Many have failed miserably, despite having a political family legacy. In BJP today, many of our generation-next politicians, from Raksha Khadse to Heena Gavit, come from political families. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis also comes from a political family, but still had to struggle to get to where he is today.
As far as my family goes, we were not launched into politics. It just happened for all of us. Poonam (Mahajan) lost her father (Pramod Mahajan) suddenly and had to go through a long struggle to get to where she is today.
I got into electoral politics by chance because people from our constituency insisted that I should be given candidature in the 2009 polls and that they would not support anyone else. After my father died, my sister was pushed into contesting his seat.
You haven’t put the Chowkidar prefix to your social media ID ?
My opponents trolled me on social media after I added the prefix. I didn’t want this campaign to get affected because of these trolls and wrong allegations being made against me, so I took the decision of removing the prefix. Social media cannot be controlled, so I thought it would be best to remove it.
