Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar on Saturday, 19 September 2026, announced a phased nationwide agitation demanding a dedicated column for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the upcoming caste-based census, culminating in a 'Chalo Delhi' mass rally on 1 November. The announcement came out of a key Vidarbha-level conclave of OBC leaders, office-bearers, and activists convened in Nagpur to address longstanding community grievances.

The Three-Phase Agitation Roadmap

The agitation strategy follows a preliminary meeting of nearly 65 OBC organisations from across the country held in Delhi on 13 September. The phased plan is structured as follows: on 2 October (Gandhi Jayanti and Lal Bahadur Shastri Jayanti), taluka-level Satyagraha — peaceful protests — will be organised across the state; on 25 October, district-level protest marches will be held; and on 1 November, the 'Chalo Delhi' rally will press the central government to act. The exact framework of the Delhi demonstration is to be finalised in consultation with allied organisations nationwide.

What Wadettiwar Said

Wadettiwar, who serves as the Congress Legislature Party leader in the Maharashtra Assembly, was unambiguous about the community's position. 'Our demand is explicit: there must be a caste-wise census with a dedicated column for OBCs. The government's current decisions regarding the census process have sparked widespread discontent within the OBC community. If the true population of OBCs is not accurately documented, issues surrounding their political representation and reservation benefits will become increasingly severe,' he said.

He argued that without precise enumeration, both political representation and reservation entitlements for OBCs would face mounting uncertainty — a concern he said is shared by organisations across party lines.

Funding Stalls and Scholarship Delays

Beyond the census question, Wadettiwar levelled allegations against the Maharashtra state government over what he described as stalling tactics in releasing funds to autonomous welfare institutions including Mahajyoti and BARTI. He urged the administration to disburse funding proportional to population size and ensure timely release of both pre-matric and post-matric scholarships for students from marginalised communities. Critics argue that delays in scholarship disbursement disproportionately affect first-generation learners from OBC households.

The Maratha Reservation Fault Line

Wadettiwar also weighed in on the politically charged debate over Maratha reservation in Maharashtra, reaffirming that the OBC community firmly opposes any dilution of its existing quota. 'The government should not slice away rights from one community to satisfy another. If the government wants to grant reservation to any group, it should do so independently. Do not allocate any portion of the OBC quota to others. If our constitutional rights are encroached upon, we will not sit quietly,' he cautioned. This comes amid the ongoing agitation led by Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, which has repeatedly demanded that OBC sub-categories be extended to include certain Maratha communities — a demand OBC groups have consistently resisted.

Why the OBC Column Demand Matters

The demand for a separate OBC column in the caste census is not new, but it has gained urgency following the Centre's announcement of a nationwide caste enumeration. OBC groups argue that without a distinct count, their proportion of the population — estimated but never officially verified since the 1931 Census — remains contested, weakening their claims to proportional representation in legislatures and government jobs. Notably, the Socio-Economic and Caste Census of 2011 data for social groups was never fully published, a gap that has fuelled distrust. Congress's decision to adopt the issue as a mass mobilisation plank signals the party's intent to consolidate OBC support ahead of upcoming electoral cycles.

How the Centre responds to the 1 November rally is likely to shape the trajectory of caste-census politics well into 2027.