By
Arun Srivastava
The
BJP and especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi boasts of performing a master
stroke by announcing 10 per cent extra reservation for economically weaker
sections without tinkering with the quotas of the SCs, STs and OBCs.
Though
Modi and the BJP leaders feel the party has managed to win the confidence of
upper caste people, the fact remains that this is a double-edged weapon that
Modi plans to utilize against Congress during the Lok Sabha elections.
Already
the move has scared the SCs, STs and OBCs. They look at the bill in the
backdrop of the statement by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat calling for a review of
the reservation policy in the run-up to the Bihar Assembly elections in 2015.
He had argued that it has been used for political ends and suggested the
formation of an apolitical committee to examine who needs the facility and for
how long.
At
that time Lalu Prasad had used the statement to run an aggressive campaign that
the RSS-BJP planned to end reservations. In fact, the backward and dalit leaders
feel that Modi’s 10 per cent quota is nothing but a tactic to confuse backward
class people.
At
a time when there are no sufficient government jobs even to meet to the needs
of the backwards and dalits, how could upper castes feel they would get their
share? Modi claims to provide quota in education. When the state of education
is already in a pathetic condition and the institutions are gasping, how could
the upper castes claim to get quality education? With no job on the board, Modi
is fooling the upper castes by announcing reservation in jobs and in the
process trying to create a conflict between the backward communities and the
upper caste people.
The
duality of the move could be understood from the simple fact Modi was providing
10 per cent reservation to upper castes, who constitute roughly 15 per cent of
the population. Tejashvi Yadav has already rung the caution bell saying t “the
bill is anti-backward” and “anti dalit”. Modi was trying to dilute the gains of
Mandal agitation. Already the demand for raising the quota for OBC from 27 per
cent to 54 per cent has been made by parties championing the cause of backward
castes. Even some allies of the BJP, such as the Apna Dal, have started to toe
the line of the Mandal opposition parties. Apna Dal leader Anupriya Patel, who
is also a Union minister, has claimed that the OBC population is 50-60 per cent
and so the 27 per cent quota was too less.
There
is little doubt that the quota gamble will backfire as the OBCs and dalits are
turning against Modi and BJP. It is an irony that while the government is
offering reservation to upper castes, it has not taken a decision on quotas in
promotion. Modi is desperate to win over the upper caste people by offering
quota, but has he cleared the backlog for reservation? What about the vacancies
at the Centre? How will the latest quota be implemented?
The
constitutional definition of economically weaker sections is vague. In a
country of 1.3 billion people, the quota bill benefits only around 4,500
people. Modi has not spoken about his failure to create jobs. One thing is
clear that jobs cannot be created without economic development, which is not
taking place.
Former
chief justice AM Ahmadi’s statement is worth mentioning here: “The government’s
decision was in conflict with the majority view his bench had taken. It is a
poll gimmick” The SC bench headed by Ahmadi had capped reservation at 50% in
1992. This was “directly in conflict” with the top court’s judgment. Modi ought
to realize that, as Ahmadi says,” economic criterion cannot be the sole basis
for determining the backward class of citizens contemplated by Article 16 of
the Constitution.”
Economist
Amartya Sen is absolutely right when he says “it indicates ‘muddled thinking’
as the bill raises questions about its political and economic impact.”
Modi
must explain why his predecessors refrained from brining the upper castes under
the ambit of reservation. For years this demand was raised by political
parties. When BSP’s Mayawati rode to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2007, she
demanded reservation in jobs for the poor belonging to the upper caste. This
was supported by the Congress as well as the BJP. But this was not implemented.
In 2011, Mayawati wrote a letter to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, demanding
that the provision of reservation on financial grounds should be put in the
Ninth Schedule of the Constitution so that it could not be challenged in a
court of law. Again in 2015 and 2017, she made a demand for separate quota in
jobs on the basis of economic status. (IPA
Service)
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