With Nayab Singh Saini at the helm, the Haryana BJP eyeing OBC vote bank ahead of the assembly elections

When the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were announced, the BJP facing a setback in the Jat heartland lost 5 seats in Haryana, retaining the other 5 seats from the non-jat majority areas like Gurugram, Faridabad, Mahendragarh, where the OBC voters, voted for the saffron party rallying behind just like 2019 Lok sabha elections when the BJP won 10 seats in Haryana. 

With Nayab Singh Saini at the helm, the BJP state leadership went back into the huddle and after discussions with Amit Shah in Delhi, charted out strategies for the upcoming assembly elections in Haryana. Working on the implementation, Nayab Singh Saini led, BJP government on Monday, announced a substantial increase in reservation for Backward Classes in government jobs, along with several other measures aimed at uplifting the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community.

Among the most significant changes announced by the BJP, the reservation for Backward Classes in Group-A and Group-B government posts has increased from 15% to 27%,  which will further provide more avenues to the youngsters of the OBC community in higher-level competitive government jobs. 

The yearly income threshold for the creamy layer of the OBC category has been increased from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh in another noteworthy decision. Since those over the creamy layer limit are normally not eligible for reservation benefits, this change will allow more OBC members to take advantage of them. Notably, revenue from salaries and agricultural sources will not be included in this cap for state government posts, by the central government's model.

Speaking at the OBC Morcha Sarv Samaj Samrasta Sammelan in Gurugram on Sunday, Chief Minister Saini announced another important decision and said that a special recruitment drive will be held by the government to fill the positions of Group A and Group B in the next 100 days.

Nayab Singh Saini announcing these decisions on X wrote that “In the last 10 years, the BJP government has ensured justice for the backward classes in Haryana, from government jobs to economic and social participation. Under the guidance of PM Narendra Modi ji, BJP has done justice to OBCs by providing them with their share in jobs and political leadership,”. 

Attacking the Congress party he further added, “Congress has always done injustice to OBCs, right from trying to stop the implementation of the Mandal Commission report till today. I assure the OBCs that their interests are safe with the BJP.”

Notably, the OBC community in Haryana accounts for around 30 percent of Haryana’s population. To woo the OBC voters, the BJP government had earlier established a sub-quota for municipal bodies for the BC-A category, which is the most backward among the state's Backward Classes. Interestingly, Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar, both who assumed their respective charges as Union ministers in Modi 3.0 recently, come from the OBC community in the state. While Rao Inderjit Singh is the most important face of the BJP in South Haryana’s Ahirwal belt, Krishan Pal Gurjar, the BJP veteran holds great sway among the OBCs in Faridabad city and the villages.

Importantly, young voters from border areas like Mahendragarh and Narnaul voted for the BJP candidates in the 2019 assembly elections praising the fair recruitment drives for Haryana Police and several administrative exams. Now, announcing an increase in reservation for Backward Classes in Group-A and Group-B government posts from 15% to 27% along with an increase in the annual income cap for the creamy layer of the OBC community, the BJP is hoping to attract the votes of the community. With just 3 months to the assembly elections, it will be interesting to see how these important moves of the BJP will impact its poll performance in Haryana.