Need OBC sub-category under women’s quota, says Siddaramaiah

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wed nesday said that there should be reservations under a sub-category for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) within the women’s quota.

His comments come in the backdrop of the women’s quota Bill being tabled in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

The Bill proposes that a third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and Assemblies would be reserved for women with a share set aside for Scheduled Caste (SCs) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) persons of the fairer sex.

However, there is no quota within a quota for OBC women within the women’s reser vation, something that the Congress has been pushing for. The argument is that OBC women, like Dalit and tribal women are marginalized on account of their caste and gender identity and doubly deserve measures for political representation.

The Bill, if passed into law, will also come into effect only after the next census, which was delayed on account of the pandemic, and the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies, which may take place anywhere between 2029 and 2031.

Siddaramaiah said that while he welcomed the women’s quota Bill, not accommodating OBC women would defeat the purpose of the legislation.

“Although the decision to table the women’s reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha is welcome, if women from Backward Classes are not given internal reservation within the quota, then it would not only be an injustice to women from these sections but a failure of the purpose of the Bill,” he said, adding that women from SC and St categories getting reservation under the Bill set a precedent for OBC women to avail the same.

The CM also slammed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for opposing the women’s Bill calling it a vestige of the Congress era. Siddaramaiah asked the BJP if they really had changed their mind on the women’s quota.