Opposition is slowly but surely building up among backward caste leaders over the issue of Muslim reservation within the OBC quota.
Mr Ashok Yadav, independent MLA from Shikohabad, is now leading the brigade of OBC leaders who are opposed to Muslim quota within quota.
“We are not opposed to reservation for Muslims but why should it be culled out from the quota for OBCs. The centre is welcome to amend the constitution and grant quota to Muslim. Why must the OBCs always suffer?” he said.
Ashok Yadav has been contacting other OBC leaders and hopes to build up political opinion against the centre’s move to grant quota within quota.
In Uttar Pradesh, the OBC leadership apparently faces a dilemma on the issue. Though Samajwadi party President Mulayam Singh Yadav is against quota within quota but he does not wish to disturb his vote base among Muslims and, therefore, has not been vocal on the issue. “It is very obvious that once the quota for Muslims is culled out from the OBC quota, it is the Yadavs and Kurmis who are going to be hit the most and leaders like Mulayam Singh should speak out,” admitted a senior SP leader.
Ms Mayawati, on Sunday, discreetly voiced her Opposition to quota within quota when she said that the Centre should amend the constitution to give “adequate” reservation to Muslims.
Interestingly, it was Ashok Yadav who openly voiced his opposition to the Rajnath Singh government’s decision to grant reservation to Most Backward Castes (MBC) from within the OBC quota in 2001.
Ashok Yadav, then a tourism minister in the Rajnath government, was sacked on this issue but he later went to Supreme Court that stayed the quota-within-quota formula.
“Since the Supreme Court has already stayed the quota-within-quota formula ten years ago, the centre cannot go ahead with it. If it is serious, the centre should amend the constitution and grant additional reservation to Muslims — we will support it,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Congress said that the issue of Muslim reservation had exposed other OBC leaders who claimed to be pro-minority and sought votes from Muslims.