BJP reservation politics

Maratha Quota Stir: BJP’s Plan For 2024 Lok Sabha Polls Under Threat From Ongoing Protests

The two opposing groups that have emerged from the agitation have remained unyielding as the protests in the state intensified last week.

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) calculations ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections have come under threat due to escalating protests over Maratha reservation in Maharashtra.

The two opposing groups that have emerged from the agitation have remained unyielding as the protests in the state intensified last week with Manoj Jarange-Patil announcing that he has given up water and intravenous support.

While a set of protesters are demanding reservations for the entire Maratha community that are currently classified as general, Kunbis and other OBC groups that fall under the other backward classes umbrella have opposed their demand to be included in the same category as them.

Patil’s move was an attempt to put more pressure on the government to accept his demand of bringing the entire community under the OBC category.

However, OBC groups and Kunbis – the subset of the Maratha community that is already classified as backward – fear that the dominant community that makes up roughly a third of the state’s population will eat into their share, the Hindustan Times reported.

On Monday (September 18), Kunbi and other OBC leaders carried out a march in Nagpur against including Marathas in the OBC list. The state government is trying to get the OBC community to call off the stir and chief minister Eknath Shinde is likely to meet OBC leaders this week, the Economic Times reported.

However, Rashtriya OBC Maha Sangh president B. Taywade has said the community would not call off the agitation easily. The OBC groups said they are not willing to ‘give up our share of reservation for anyone else’. If the government wants to give reservation to the Maratha community, it should consider giving it from the open category,” he was quoted by the Hindustan Times as saying.

The BJP-Shiv Sena government had called an all party meeting last week after being stuck in a deadlock with the protesters for nearly three weeks.

In addition to the ongoing protests, the Dhangar community has also begun an agitation demanding that it be given a Scheduled Tribe status, the Economic Times report said.

Dy CM Fadnavis Apologises for Lathicharge on Maratha Quota Protestors, Govt Sets up Committee

The announcement came in the wake of protests in Aurangabad’s Jalna that began last week and turned violent on Friday.

New Delhi: Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde on Monday (September 4) said that a committee will submit its report within a month on how to issue Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas from Marathwada region, the Hindu reported.

Kunbis are an agriculture practicing community currently grouped under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category in Maharashtra.

“A committee was set up and asked to submit a report within a month on how to issue Kunbi certificates to the Maratha community from Marathwada. The state government has taken this issue seriously and we are working to find an amicable solution,” Shinde was quoted by the Hindu as saying.

The announcement comes in the wake of protests in Aurangabad’s Jalna that began last week and turned violent on Friday (September 1), leaving 40 police personnel and some civilians injured, the Hindustan Times reported.

The community has been demanding reservation in education and government jobs, with a sit-in hunger strike led by activist Manoj Jarange in Jalna’s Antarwali Sarathi village since Tuesday (August 29). Violence broke out when the police tried to shift Jarange to a hospital on Friday.

Some persons targeted state transport buses and private vehicles, police said. Subsequently, the police used lathis and fired tear gas shells to disperse a mob in the village, the report said. More than 15 state buses were set ablaze, the Hindustan Times reported.

“Lathi-charge by police was not right… I am apologising on behalf of the government. The chief minister has said that action will be taken against those who are responsible for it,” deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was quoted by the Hindustan Times as saying.

Fadnavis said that the Maharashtra government regrets the use of force by police in Jalna district a few days back, PTI reported.

Reservation in jobs and education provided by the earlier government to the Maratha community was quashed by the Supreme Court in May 2021, citing the 50% ceiling on total reservations among other grounds.

“I have directed officials to study the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Maratha quota and recommend solutions. We need to establish that the Maratha community is backward,” Shinde said.

However, Jarange told reporters that he would not call off the protest unless a government order is issued granting reservation in education and jobs to the Maratha community.

Haryana Assembly Passes Bill to Bifurcate SC Quota Despite Protest From Congress

As per the Bill, 50 % of the 20% seats reserved for SCs for admission in any government educational institutions shall be set aside for candidates belonging to “deprived Scheduled Castes”.

Chandigarh: Amid vociferous protest by the Congress, the Haryana assembly on Wednesday passed a bill to bifurcate 20% seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes in admission to higher educational institutions in the state.

The Haryana Scheduled Castes (Reservation in Admission in Government Educational Institutions) Bill, 2020 was passed after an hour-long discussion, with senior Congress leader Geeta Bhukkal claiming it was “divisive” and “unconstitutional” and demanded that it be withdrawn.

The Bill, moved by Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment O.P. Yadav, was passed to provide for reservation in admission in government educational institutions to people belonging to the Scheduled Castes in Haryana with special measures for “deprived Scheduled Castes”.

Slamming the government’s move to bring the Bill, Bhukkal questioned the need for creating “this new category of deprived Scheduled Castes”.

“You have sub-categorised SCs, why are you dividing us, why are you dividing (the) state into Jats, non-Jats, SC, BC and making other sub-categories. This Bill is unconstitutional, divisive and against the law and should be withdrawn,” she said.

Also Read: Why Scheduled Caste Refugees of Bengal Are Resisting CAA and NRC

However, the government defended the move and said there was nothing unconstitutional about it. The sub-classification of reservation would be applicable for graduation and post-graduation-level courses in educational institutions maintained by the government or receiving government aid.

As per the Bill, 20% seats shall be reserved for the members of the Scheduled Castes while making admissions in government educational institutions. Fifty per cent of the 20% seats reserved for SCs for admission in any government educational institutions shall be set aside for candidates belonging to “deprived Scheduled Castes”.

“Haryana provides 20% reservation for Scheduled Castes in admission in educational institutions as well in services. Analysis of employee data reveals that the total representation of a section of the Scheduled Castes in the government services in Haryana, hereinafter, referred to as “deprived Scheduled Castes” is only 4.7%, 4.14% and 6.27% in Group A, Group B, and Group C services, respectively, even though their population is about 11% of the total state population.

Reservation and Narendra Modi: Here Comes Our Very Own Mr Ten Percent

Beyond the 10% quota throw-of-the-dice, there is the question of Narendra Modi’s trustworthiness. Under his watch, the entire process of governance has been reduced to a sophisticated game of cunning trickery.

Within minutes, the pro-government television channels were calling it a huge ‘game-changer’ but the “ten-percent quota” gambit could mean only one thing: the Modi cabal will go to any length – do anything, say anything, promise anything – to try to win the next Lok Sabha election. Never mind that the proposed constitutional amendment would certainly run afoul of the Supreme Court, but the super-clever men who constitute the Modi clique clearly hope that large chunks of the friendly media will help the prime minister re-write the ‘narrative’ around this 10% business.

The Modi crowd may well be entitled to its conceits but the democratic, liberal, progressive and secular voices owe it to the country not to get taken in by this sleight of hand. The last-minute googly needs to be seen for what it is: an open acknowledgement by Prime Minister Modi himself that his government’s record of glorious incompetence will not do the trick with the voters in 2019. It is an implicit admission that the vikas mantra has lost its power of incantation.

The politics of polarisation has run its course; no one is listening to the divisive, incendiary rhetoric of the Nagpur commissars. The “chowkidar” has found it difficult to get away from the Rafale taint. After the defeat in the three Hindi-speaking states, the much-touted “chanakyas” have come to realise that the voters have perhaps seen through the baazigar’s bag of tricks. Hence, a new act – say, the 10% quota – had to be unveiled. More such dramas can be expected, before the model code of conduct kicks in.

That the 10% quota move is riddled with electoral calculations has been spelled out quite eloquently by Ram Vilas Paswan in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Whatever may be the BJP’s compulsion, it remains incumbent upon the opposition to nail the Modi government down with its own failures and flaws. That means not letting the Modi sarkar photo-shop its incompetence out of the election-time narrative. That also means not letting the country forget about the great scam called demonetisation – a gross abuse of governmental authority by a grossly whimsical prime minister.

That certainly means reminding the nation how the Modi government has messed up our geo-strategic environment in the neighbourhood. And, that means reminding the voters of the fault-lines that have been inflicted on society in the name of the cow. And, above all, that certainly means reminding the young voters of the unfulfilled promises on job-creation and stemming black money. The Modi government’s record of mega incompetence and underperformance will need to be cited in chapter and verse.

For his part, Modi appears to have decided not to seek re-election on the basis of his government’s rather patchy record; instead, he has already gone about the country, trying to crank up the old perceptions and sentiments about the Congress Party and its pre-2014 record of presumed corrupt misdeeds. Perhaps it is not difficult to read Modi’s strategy: he wants to run down and demonise all political rivals and opponents as unprincipled, unworthy seekers of power while painting himself as a worthy – and, sole – custodian of the nation’s treasury, integrity, security and morals. Left to his own devices, the megalomaniac in Modi would want to outlaw any challenge to his return to the prime ministerial gaddi.

Also read: Optics, Not Welfare: The Politics of Appeasement Behind the 10% Reservation

Whatever may be the BJP’s expedient calculations, the larger dimension of the last-minute constitutional jugglery is deeply troubling for our democratic project: the utter cynicism, undiluted and unadulterated on display. Suddenly, the prophets and proponents of the “New India” look very much like the calculating practitioners of the old India whom they had once accused of populism, of “vote bank” politics; those who were serenaded as transformational leaders are today gloating over their legislative machinations; the “reformers” have turned out to be much-derided power-hungry operatives.

Inevitably, the question that presents itself is this: does the Modi crowd believe in anything except its own political survival and prosperity? Does Narendra Modi stand for anything other than Narendra Modi?

Beyond the ruling coterie’s obvious contempt for the voters’ basic intelligence, there is the fundamental issue of trust in public institutions and governmental leaders. Constitutional functionaries and ruling impresarios are principal keepers of that trust; every healthy democratic society expects its politics to deepen trustfulness in public life, and an incumbent government is enjoined to act in a trust-worthy manner. Robust democracies frown upon arbitrariness and whimsicality.

It is on this count that Narendra Modi as the prime minister is most disappointingly deficient. If any proof were needed of this anti-democratic streak, anyone can read it in the Supreme Court judgment on the midnight ouster of CBI director Alok Verma. Modi has consistently and wilfully refused to accept that those who preside over the government do not have a licence to dismantle the structure of restraint and accountability.

The man who was abundantly rewarded by the electorate in 2014 because he had promised to rescue the country’s governance from Rahul the Pappu’s errantry has himself turned out to be a grandiloquently self-obsessed leader. And it is up to the opposition to communicate to the voters a sense of this grand betrayal of trust.

Also read: ‘Reservation Is Not Poverty Alleviation Programme, New Bill May Be Struck Down’

As prime minister, Narendra Modi has regrettably introduced a culture of political dishonesty. Nothing captures this dishonesty more graphically than his deceitful accusation against his predecessor, Manmohan Singh (as also a former vice-president of the republic and a former chief of army staff), of a “conspiracy” to involve Pakistan in Gujarat’s December 2017 assembly elections; that was the day the prime minister lost the nation’s confidence. The BJP barely scraped through; its “mission 150” eloquently rebuffed. But, it needs to be noted, that since then the BJP has not won a single state. That day the prime minister forfeited the nation’s trust. A prime minister does not have the luxury of being insincere. Not even a Narendra Modi.

Governance is much more than a bag of tricks; nor is politics an endless game of hoodwinks and sleights of hand. Public life has to be necessarily anchored in trustfulness; public order can be sustained and citizens’ obedience and compliance secured only if the rulers keep their part in this reciprocal bargain of trust. Narendra Modi has proven himself to be unworthy of the citizens’ trust.

Harish Khare is a journalist who lives and works in Delhi. He was, until recently, editor-in-chief of The Tribune.

Lok Sabha Passes 10% Reservation Bill for Economically Backward Upper Castes

323 members voted in support of the Bill.

New Delhi: A landmark bill seeking to provide 10% reservation in jobs and education for the general category poor was passed by the Lok Sabha Tuesday, with most parties backing the measure, described by the government as “historic” and in the country’s interest.

As many as 323 members voted in support of bill and only three voted against, underlining the cross-party support the politically crucial bill elicited.

Replying to an over four and half hour debate, Social Justice Minister Thaavarchand Gehlot sought to allay doubts raised by several opposition members about the legislation’s fate if challenged in the Supreme Court, saying he can say with confidence that the apex court will accept it.

Also read: Cabinet Approves 10% Reservation for Economically Backward Upper Castes

The Modi government’s policy and intention is good and that is why it has enabled the reservation for the poor in the general category with constitutional amendment, he said, seeking support of all parties for the passage of The Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill 2019.

“Your doubts are unfounded. Put them to rest,” he told opposition members, many of whom dubbed the bill as “jumla” and “gimmick,” questioned its legal standing and accused the government of bringing it in haste with an eye on the Lok Sabha polls.

Also read: Optics, Not Welfare: The Politics of Appeasement Behind the 10% Reservation

Gehlot claimed that the bill is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertion when he assumed power in 2014 that his government would be devoted to the cause of the poor and work for “sabka saath sabka vikas” (With all, development for all).

“This is an historic decision and in the interest of the country,” he said.

Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi were present in the House when the bill was passed. The government will table the bill in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

(PTI)

Optics, Not Welfare: The Politics of Appeasement Behind the 10% Reservation

With the numbers stacked against it in the upper house, the Modi government will not be able to implement the intended 10% reservation for “economically-backward upper castes”. Is the cabinet’s move simply diversionary tactics at play?

New Delhi: The Union cabinet approved 10% reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for “economically-backward upper castes” today. This will be over and above the existing 50% limit for reservations. All those in the general category who do not earn more than Rs 8 lakh annually are likely to benefit if the decision is implemented. The government is expected to move a constitutional amendment bill to facilitate the process.

The decision follows statements by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party – attributing the BJP’s recent electoral losses to growing upper caste resentment against the Narendra Modi government.

In 2018, the BJP was defeated in polls to five state assemblies, two of which – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh – it had held for three consecutive terms. The RSS leapt to declare that the ruling party was losing support from upper-caste groups, on account of its restoration of stringent provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Also read: Cabinet Approves 10% Reservation for Economically Backward Upper Castes

The Supreme Court had diluted certain provisions in the Act, but the Modi government restored them by passing a bill in the parliament.

A move to tame RSS resentment?

While the Modi government’s move will appease upper-caste voters at large, it also appears to be an appeasement measure within the Sangh parivar.

Although the RSS has been reaching out to SC/ST/OBC groups to consolidate its idea of Hindus, the top echelons of the parivar are still dominated by an upper caste lobby.

It is an age-old demand with the Sangh parivar that the current system of reservations should accommodate the poor who qualify as ‘General Category’. In 2015, Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS sarsanghchalak, demanded that reservations should not be given on the basis of caste but on economic criteria. Most scholars fear that reservations based on economic criteria is a back-handed method to render the current quota system ineffective and deny benefits to historically marginalised communities.

The BJP is suffering from problems that usually accompanies a party’s expansion. The party has grown dramatically in the last few years by reaching out to marginalised groups, which had never been one of its core constituents.

In combining its ideology and electoral strategy, however, the BJP has strained to integrate the interests of Dalits and adivasis along with its core support base of upper caste groups.

Also read: OBC Representation in Central Jobs Less Than Actual Quota: Government

After the electoral losses, the RSS sent a clear message to the BJP. “This [upper caste disenchantment] has been conveyed to the BJP leadership, although no review of the same has been suggested as a remedy,” the Hindu quoted a source as saying. The same report also said that some BJP spokespersons, close to the RSS, flagged the matter at a large meeting called by BJP president Amit Shah a few weeks before the assembly polls. According to the Hindu’s sources, the RSS believed upper caste anger was expressed in the unprecedented number of NOTA (None of the Above) votes in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Amit Shah (left) and Narendra Modi (right). Credit: PTI

While the BJP’s signal endearing itself to the upper caste groups is clear, the Modi government will not be able to implement the intended 10% reservation. The government is reportedly thinking about accomplishing it through a constitutional amendment. The numbers stacked are against it in the upper house, however, and the opposition is unlikely to support the radical move.

Optics, not welfare

In that sense, the cabinet’s decision will only serve the purpose of polarising the electorate on the sensitive topic of reservations. This, in turn, may help the government divert attention from issues on which it has found itself pushed to the wall.

The opposition has been unrelenting in its attack on the prime minister for failing to curb unemployment, rural distress and price hikes of essential commodities and questioned his role in negotiating the controversial Rafale aircraft deal with France.

In reality, the government is battling accusations of failing even to implement the current system of reservations and generating enough employment.

Also read: The Way Forward for Caste-Based Reservations in India

Only recently, Union minister Upendra Kushwaha resigned from the National Democratic Alliance citing the inaction of the Modi government on categorisation of Other Backward Classes (OBC). “The policy of bifurcation of OBC category has not been submitted by the committee headed by Justice G. Rohini,” he wrote. “It clearly indicates that the government is not serious, hence there is a fear and confusion amongst the OBC category.”

Kushwaha was referring to the Justice Rohini Commission, constituted in 2017 to suggest sub-categories within the OBC for reservation benefits. It was given its fourth extension late last year.

Similarly, Kushwaha wrote that confusion about the new roster system in university teachers’ recruitment has entirely stalled new appointments, freezing jobs in Indian higher education.

Legal sustainability

“The move cannot be upheld constitutionally. The government will face multiple roadblocks,” said V. Krishna Ananth, a lawyer and Professor of History at SRM University, Amravati.

“Firstly, article 340 of the constitution says that reservation could be given to socially and educationally backward class of citizens. Which means reservation can be given to a class of citizens, not a group within a class,” he said.

He added that multiple judgements since independence finally culminating in Indra Sawhney and others versus Union of India (1992) restricted reservation of jobs and seats to not more than 50%. He said that the government would need to amend Article 15, 16, and 340 to implement its decision but even that would be subject to judicial review.

“Eventually, the court review will explore whether such an amendment violates the basic structure of the constitution, as Kesavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala (1973) had upheld. The court will look into the matter by referring to the constituent assembly debates. It is clear from those debates that the criteria for reservation are social and educational background, not economic,” Ananth said.

He also said that the Mandal Commission kept in mind the economic standing of a group, but only as one of the criteria among others.

The only instance in India where reservation has exceeded the 50% limit is in Tamil Nadu, where reservation of seats can extend upto 69%. However, Ananth said that the Tamil Nadu reservation system was implemented before the Indra Sawhney case, and the government made an exception for the state through a constitutional amendment.

“Even that system is in question as appeals against it is pending in the Supreme Court,” he said.

Also read: Quotas Are Not a Magic Wand to Resolve Problem of Discrimination in Universities

In 2011, when the UPA-II government cleared a 4.5% minority quota within the existing 27% OBC quota for government jobs and universities – which remained unfulfilled – the BJP went after the Congress hammer and tongs. That was a quota within quota formula and the UPA government had the Sachar committee – which had explored the extremely backward status of Muslims in detail – as back up.

The saffron party, however, blew up the “Muslim appeasement” rhetoric so much against the move that the state’s commitment towards affirmative action stood questioned.

Now, the Modi government do not have a single study to enunciate the backwardness of upper caste groups, yet the BJP leaders see the union government’s move to extend reservation to them as a historic decision. Except that the obvious contradictions in the saffron party’s political rhetoric is there for everyone to see.