Mumbai: The Maharashtra BJP Monday started its ‘Jagar Yatra’ from Sevagram in Wardha district to reach out to the Other Backward Classes (OBC).
Leading the yatra, state BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “The party shall recommend the Maha Yuti government in the state to conduct a caste census.”
The Yatra will cover all eleven districts of the Vidarbha region in the 11-day first phase. It will conclude at Poharadevi in the Washim district, a pilgrimage place for several of the OBC communities. In the first phase, the Yatra will crisscross through all OBC dominant constituencies in the cotton belt of Vidarbha, covering 10 Lok Sabha seats and 62 Assembly seats.
Purpose of the yatra
“The purpose of the yatra is to reach out to people in Vidarbha. The Centre and the state government have enforced several welfare schemes and programmes to uplift OBCs. We will inform people about the good work of the government,” Bawankule said.
The beginning of the Yatra coincided with release of the caste census by the Bihar government. As the reports related to the census started pouring in, the opposition leaders started asking the BJP to reveal its stand on the census.
Leader of opposition in the state assembly Vijay Wadettiwar raised the demand in the morning. Ashish Deshmuk, who recently left Congress to join BJP, reiterated the demand in presence of Bawankule during the Jagar Yatra and Bawankule supported it.
“We shall recommend to the state government that they should conduct a survey of OBC communities and, apart from announcing their numbers, should also reveal their economic status,” Bawankule said in response to demand raised by Deshmukh.
