Hyderabad: The chairperson of the National Board for Backward Classes, Justice V. Eswaraiah, has said that Patels and other upper caste communities who have been demanding reservations like Backward Classes are not eligible for it.
Speaking at a conference at the Osmania University on Saturday, Justice Eswaraiah said that there is a lack of awareness as well as clarity at the national level on what constitutes Backward Classes (BCs) and that there is no scientific methodology to classify Backward Classes.
Justice Eswaraiah criticised the creamy layer policy in OBC reservations and said that reservations for Backward Classes is not serving its purpose as in many cases the target of 27 per cent reservation for OBCs is not fulfilled due to improper reservation policies.
Justice Eswaraiah lambasted political parties saying that there was not a single political party where a BC leader has decision making power, including the regional parties of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Giving the example of an incident which happened before the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, he said that once when he was working on the inclusion of some castes from Andhra Pradesh into the list of Backward Classes politicians raised objections.
He said that while there are no strong BC political parties in south India, those in the north have not worked for the development of the most Backward Classes.
Justice Eswaraiah also raised the issue of the limited powers vested with the National Board for Backward Classes.
He said that the Board has powers only to include or exclude castes from the list of Backward Classes but cannot take up any complaints regarding Backward Classes.
He also said that the chairperson of the Board does not have powers to ensure that the 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes is being implemented.
Justice Eswaraiah demanded that Backward Classes should be provided relaxations in all fields like SCs.
BCs oppose quotas for upper castes
The demand for reservation by Patels in Gujarat echoed in Hyderabad on Saturday at a conference held at the Osmania University against the demands for reservations by forward castes, especially Patels.
Justice V. Eswaraiah, the chairperson of the National Commission for Backward Classes, was the chief guest.
Speakers raised their voice against reservations for upper castes. They said that this was a new ploy by the upper castes against BCs to ensure that the 27 per cent reservation given to OBCs is scrapped by the government and that upper castes cannot ask for reservations as it is based on socio-economic-political backwardness and not just economic factors.
A doctor working at a well known private hospital in the city who took part in the conference said, "Reservations for OBCs are necessary. We constitute nearly 51% of the population in Telangana but at the hospital where I work almost all the doctors are from the Reddy community. I am the only doctor from the Backward Classes."
All speakers at the conference raised the lack of strong political presence and representation of the Backward Classes in the Assembly as well as Parliament. Many raised the point that united AP and the Telugu states never had a Chief Minister belonging to Backward Classes and that BCs should unite in AP as well as Telangana.
