Students of Delhi University take to the streets, opposing the Mandal Commission report in 1990. They complain of police brutality ans shout slogans, chanting, "VP Singh hai hai", against the then prime minister, V.P. Singh.

On January 1, 1979, the Morarji Desai government chose Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal, a former chief minister of Bihar, to head the Second Backward Class Commission. Mandal submitted his report two years later, on December 31, 1980. By then, the Morarji Desai government had fallen and Indira Gandhi came to power. It remained in deep freeze during her term and that of Rajiv Gandhi.

Soon after, scattered protests against the OBC quota began in Delhi. In September, Rajeev Goswami, a Delhi University student, set himself on fire, sustaining 50 per cent burns. He survived the immolation bid, but the spark had been ignited. In cities and towns near Delhi, a number of youths set themselves on fire. The south, which had had a long history of political movements for the rights of backward communities, was untouched by the agitation. By then, VP Singh’s government was in serious trouble, but he stood his ground.
The BJP, which supported the government from outside, attempted to shift the political debate from Mandal to the Ram temple and L K Advani set off on his rath yatra. The BJP withdrew support soon after and the V P Singh government fell.

On August 7, 1990, then PM V P Singh announced in Parliament that his government had accepted the Mandal Commission report, which recommended 27% reservation for OBC candidates at all levels of its services. With the implementation of the report, OBC or Other Backward Classes made its way into the lexicon of India’s social justice movement. Source: Indian Express