The Shinde government, hoping to replicate the success in Haryana, has reached out to two key segments - the Scheduled Castes (SC) and the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The BIP strategy of consolidating the Haryana caste vote by polarising various communities and leveraging its influence with the OBC voters has paid it rich dividends.
With this avowed adjective, the Mahayuti government too appears to be focusing on various small groups and special decisions are being taken tailor-made for these segments.
On Thursday, the Maharashtra cabinet took several key decisions, including approving an ordinance giving constitutional status to the state Scheduled Caste Commission and giving its nod to a proposal urging the Centre to hike the income criterion for inclusion in the creamy layer among OBCs from Rs 8 lakh a year to Rs 15 lakh.
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A non-creamy layer certificate, stating that the family income of a person is below the preseribed limit, is needed to get reservation benefits in the OBC category. A statement from the office of Maharashira Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the cabinet has approved a draft ordinance to accord constitutional status to the Maharashtra State Scheduled Caste Commission.
The ordinance, the statement said, would be tabled in the next session of the state legislature and added that 27 posts had been approved for the panel. The state Cabinet has also decided to allocate several allocate economic development corporations to different communities.
These include the Sola Kulswamini Economic Development Corporation for the Vani community, the Brahmlin Acharya Divyanand Puriji Maharaj Economic Development Corporation for the Lohar community, Sant Namdev Maharaj Economic Development Corporation for the Shimpi community, and Shri Krishna Economic Development Corporation for the Gawli community.
Additionally, corporations for the Lohar and Nathpanthi communities will also be established. An outlay of Rs 50 crore will be allocated for this initiative.
These decisions are seen as a part of the Mahayuti’s social engineering efforts to please smaller groups in the Maharashtra elections. Ahead of the elections in Haryana, where the BJP was perceived to be on the back foot after ruling the state for two consecutive terms, the state government had hiked the creamy layer ceiling from RS 6 lakh to 8 lakh.
The decision is seen as having contributed to the party managing to defy exit poll predictions and beat anti-incumbency to win 48 seats, two more than the majority mark in the 90- member Assembly.
