Congress ups the ante on quotas

The current debate on creating a quota for Muslims (read minorities) within the OBC quota has once again become a subject of debate and controversy. This move by the Congress, with an eye on Uttar Pradesh elections due next year, clearly is an attempt to wean away Muslim votes from Samajwadi Party. It might also impact all backward caste parties that rose in wake of the Mandal wave of the 1990s, and reaped the electoral fruits of a Muslim-Backward (read Yadav) equation. Muslims in Uttar Pradesh have the capacity to tilt the election in approximately 100 Vidhan Sabha seats.

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