Reservation for Other Backward Class (OBC) and domicile issues rocked Jharkhand Assembly and the state capital Ranchi on Monday.

Thousands of AJSU supporters were taken into preventive custody from different parts of Ranchi and other parts of Jharkhand by state police on Monday to thwart their protest in front of the Jharkhand Assembly, demanding domicile policy based on 1932 khatian (land records) and reservation for backwards.

Inside the state Assembly, Opposition parties tried to corner the ruling JMM-led UPA government demanding 27 per cent reservation for OBC.

Chief minister Hemant Soren charged the Opposition of doing politics over such issues. “The Opposition has made up its mind to do politics on the issues of backwards, language and domicile. Everyone in the House knows who decreased the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs to 14 per cent. We are not so cruel. The government is studying the matter. The government will take a final decision after studying reservation provisions of OBCs in other states such as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. These issues are being flared up as the government is working proactively on creating large scale jobs for original inhabitants and tribals in the state,” Soren said in the Assembly.

The state police had made security arrangements anticipating the law and order problems. Ranchi district administration had clamped Section 144 in the areas close to Jharkhand Assembly and the police put up security cordons and barricades at strategic points.

“Several leaders of AJSU, coming from other districts such as Dhanbad, Bokaro and Giridih, were taken into preventive custody when they were trying to enter Ranchi. Thousands of AJSU supporters were also taken into preventive custody at Daldali Chowk along Ring Road and other points,” said a senior police official.

Ranchi senior superintendent of police (SSP) S.K. Jha said: “There has been no report of law and order issue anywhere in Ranchi district. Since Section 144 was imposed and Covid restrictions were already in place, prohibiting gathering of large persons for protest, we took some protestors into preventive custody and they were released later in the evening on PR bond.”

Earlier in the day, JMM’s Giridih MLA Sudivya Kumar referred to the statement given by the erstwhile Raghubar Das-led BJP government in the House itself that the government had no proposal under consideration to increase the reservation

for OBCs from 14 per cent to 27 per cent and alleged that its ally AJSU was silent at that time.

The remarks came on questions posed by BJP’s Bokaro lawmaker Biranchi Narayan on clarifying government stand on defining domicile while another BJP lawmaker Shashi Bhushan Mehta raised question on alleged exclusion of Hindi language in Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) exams for third and fourth grade jobs and AJSU MLA Lambodar Mahto raised question on increasing OBC quota in Jharkhand.

“As per the recommendation of the state commission for backward classes, OBC reservation could be between 36 per cent and 50 per cent. In Jharkhand, OBC reservation is only 14 per cent. OBCs in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra avail 50 per cent reservation. I would like to ask the government if the OBC quota will be increased to 50 per cent on the lines of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra in Jharkhand,” Lambodar had asked.

Soren further said, “Hindi has not been excluded but it is already included in Paper-1 (main) of JSSC examinations. We are trying to ensure more local residents participate in such examinations.”