The Congress party’s pitch for an OBC quota in the Women’s Reservation Bill passed on September 20 in the special session of Parliament, coupled with the demand for a nationwide caste census, seems to be upsetting the applecarts of many political leaders and pundits.Rahul Gandhi’s honest public admission in a press conference last week, of regret that the UPA government did not incorporate the OBC quota in the Women’s Reservation Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010, has become a source of concern in the ruling BJP and other casteist elements in political parties and elsewhere. The Bill failed to pass muster in the Lok Sabha then, because of the vociferous opposition from Mandal parties like the RJD and SP, which sought an OBC quota.It is another thing that Congress’ vocal support for the OBC quota within women’s reservation and the caste census also enabled Mandal parties like SP and RJD, partners in the INDIA bloc, to support this Bill, while stressing the demand for an OBC quota. The BJP has not taken kindly to Rahul Gandhi’s expression of regret over past mistakes.BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya has reminded Rahul that his father Rajiv Gandhi, who was Leader of the Opposition in the Ninth Lok Sabha, had vehemently opposed prime minister VP Singh’s implementation of the Mandal Commission report, which recommended 27% reservation for OBCs in central and state services.Rajiv had then accused VP Singh of taking the country “to the edge of caste wars.” This was days after Delhi University NSUI activist Rajiv Goswami (who died much later) had attempted self-immolation. Rajiv Gandhi said, “We have problems if the caste is defined to enshrine casteism in our country… Congress cannot stand by and watch this nation being divided for the political convenience of one individual (read VP Singh). We are not in favour of having such measures being cornered by one particular group within the SEBCs”, underlining the need to keep the ‘creamy layer’ out of any benefits from Mandal Commission recommendations.While a good section of the upper castes and the BJP were immensely pleased with Rajiv’s outright rejection of benefits for Yadavs, Kurmis and such other castes, it hugely dented support for the Congress in Bihar and eastern UP, where Yadavs are politically influential. In the 1991 elections, the Congress won only one out of 54 seats of united Bihar and just five of 85 in undivided Uttar Pradesh. After Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991, the BJP became the sole arbiter of upper castes in UP and Bihar.But then the Congress has had a history of indifference towards OBCs. Perhaps that was because it relied on dependable support from three communities/castes ― Brahmins, Muslims and Dalits. All these have a countrywide presence in large or small numbers, and therefore became a solid vote bank for the Congress party. As against this, OBCs are a rather amorphous lot. In most parts of the country, they constitute mostly rural agrarian middle peasantry with small land holdings. They attracted the attention of socialists, often even the Communists, from the Fifties to the Seventies. Ram Manohar Lohia and Charan Singh encashed OBC disenchantment and disappointment with the Congress.That was not the whole truth, though. For it was the Congress government of Jawaharlal Nehru which instituted the Kakasaheb Kalelkar Commission in 1953 to go into and suggest means of bettering the lot of the OBCs. It recommended a caste census in 1961, related social backwardness of a class to its low position in the traditional caste hierarchy of Hindu society, treated all women as backwards, and recommended the reservation of 70% of seats in all technical and professional institutions for qualified students from the backward classes. It also proposed 25% reservation for Class I government jobs for the OBCs, 33.5% for Class II and 40% for Class III and IV jobs. The report was shelved.Then in 1979, when Charan Singh was inducted into the Janata Party government of Morarji Desai, a commission under Bihar leader BP Mandal was set up to recommend measures to assuage the OBCs. But his report was delivered in 1980, by which time Indira Gandhi had returned with an overwhelming majority. She shelved the Mandal report, recommending 27% reservation in Government service for the OBCs. However, it was Indira Gandhi who appointed Daroga Prasad Rai, who was a Yadav, chief minister of Bihar.But unlike Rajiv, as leader of the Congress and later the UPA, Sonia Gandhi was far more amenable to the aspirations of the OBCs. She made peace with Lalu Prasad Yadav and remained a strong pillar of support for Rabri Devi and him in successive governments. Two, it was under her leadership that UPA HRD Minister Arjun Singh brought in reservation for OBC students in institutes of higher learning, including medical and engineering colleges. It was opposed covertly and overtly by student bodies patronised by the BJP.Rahul Gandhi seems to have learnt a lesson or two from Sonia in this respect. This should generate positive vibes for the Congress party in states like Bihar, UP and Tamil Nadu, and other states, too, if his party gives heed to Rahul’s latest call to state and district leaders of Congress to work from the grassroots and up for better OBC reservation at all levels.Faraz Ahmad is a senior journalist based in Delhi.This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.