A New Caste Called ' Unreserved Castes ' !

BY R.K.MISRA

Don’t play with fire, it burns.

The caste conundrum has burnt the BJP’s boats in Madhya Pradesh and is set to singe it in Gujarat, even sink it !

Caught in a cleft-stick  following the 2015  patidar  agitation which saw the ruling party nearly toppled from  its power perch in the 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections, successive BJP governments in Gujarat find themselves lost in the reservation alley, sinking further every time it seeks to beat its way out.

It’s latest move came on December 8 when it put out a list of 69 castes and sub-groups among, hindus, muslims, Christians, jains, parsis as well as jews who would   be defined as “unreserved classes”.

Officially the list is designed to provide caste certificates to those from the  unreserved castes so that they can get benefits under the Gujarat Unreserved Educational and Economical Development Corporation Scheme of 2017.”This in effect means that the government has now created a new caste category called the ‘unreserved castes’. It’s like the proverbial garden fence  which keeps you out without obscuring the view while allowing you to nibble from the edges’, points out a top political leader preferring anonymity for obvious reasons. ”Nothing very new, except the urgency which is gripping the BJP as it realizes it’s support base slipping so it attempts to inject new  life into the old for publicity’s sake”, points out a PAAS leader .

The  fact is that the Vijay Rupani government  found itself  handicapped after it ‘s own party government in neighbouring Maharashtra founded a new ‘socio-education backward class” to grant reservation benefits to marathas.

The post-Narendra Modi era governments in Gujarat have been battling an intransigent Patidar community led by a youthful Hardik Patel heading a Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti(PAAS) which has been demanding   reservation in educational institutions and government jobs for his community.

The issue has seen heightened political passions, violence and statewide agitations which continues to simmer on a slow burner even after taking the toll of a patidar  chief minister, Anandiben Patel(the present MP Governor).

It  returned to blight the life of Amit Shah appointee  chief minister Rupani  following the announcement ,ironically ,in neighbouring Mumbai by Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on November 18 about creation of a special category for marathas based on the reports and recommendations of their state commission of backward classes.

PAAS reservation spearhead, Hardik Patel was quick to pounce on the issue questioning  how Maharashtra could do it and Gujarat  failed. ”If it is possible constitutionally in Maharashtra, how come Gujarat failed lamely stating that beyond 50 per cent reservation was not possible”.

The fact of the matter is that Congress chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki had introduced  reservation for socially and economically backward classes(SEBC) based on recommendations of the Bakshi Commission in 1981 but the anti-reservation agitation in which the BJP was also a silent participant put paid to the effort.

Though simmering on the back burner, the issue again came to the fore in July 2015 when the patidars led by a 23 year old youth leader, Hardik Patel held public demonstrations in support of their demand for OBC status. A rally in Ahmedabad on August 25,2015 led to statewide violence after  a police assault on peaceful agitators. Subsequently  on September 24,2015 chief minister Anandiben Patel announced a scheme which offered scholarships and subsidies to general category students.

On April 30,2016,her government followed it up with a  new 10 per cent  quota in jobs and college admissions for the economically backward  among upper classes in a bid to defuse the patidar agitation. The decision was taken at a core committee meeting of the Gujarat BJP in which national president Amit Shah was also present.

The new quota  took the state past the 50 per cent  reservation limit  set by the Supreme Court. Gujarat then had 48 per cent reservation which included 7 per cent reservation for scheduled castes,14 per cent  for scheduled tribes and 27 per cent for OBCs.  PAAS had rejected the move as a mere lollipop. The 10 per cent reservation for the EBC was predictably quashed by the Gujarat High Court in  August 2016 .

Former chief minister Suresh Mehta sees the genesis of the present problem in the rising resentment and frustration amongst the youth caused by soaring unemployment. ”blinded by the extravaganza’s unleashed by the then chief minister Narendra Modi through the  Vibrant Gujarat summits’ that promised an upsurge of jobs, the youth were led into a blind alley and were frustrated when not even a fraction of these materialized. When  parents pay through their nose for costly education  and  thereafter  the children idle at home with degrees in hand, the result is an explosive mix which spills over in society causing incalculable harm to the social fabric”, he adds.

The present delineation of the’ unreserved groups’, is an exercise which was launched in September  2017 in the run up to the Vidhan Sabha elections in the state in the shape of the Gujarat Unreserved Educational  and economical Development Corporation(GUEEDC). Under the scheme the government intended to grant monetary benefits to youth for education including foreign education, food bill assistance, tuition fee assistance ,coaching assistance, aid for competitive exams, self- employment assistance and bank loans for professionals training for competitive examinations.

Of the total budgetary allocation of  Rs 500 crores, the state government has sanctioned Rs 100 crores for  GUEEDC. But the fact remains that it has so far received a mere  Rs 7.25 crores and in principle approval for  another Rs 2.74 crores, according to official sources. Until November this year ,only 433 applications have been received of which 146 were approved,109 rejected and 127 under processing.

This government is only interested in making grand announcements but  when it comes to implementation, it is a big zero. Moreover , theirs is an election to election announcement, points out Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi. ”The  scheme was announced before the Vidhan Sabha elections and now as the parliamentary  elections are nearing so comes another set of  announcements. The actual allocation lets the cat out of the bag”, he adds.

The fact remains that the setting up of the corporation came as the PAAS tightened  the screws  of an impending stir. The new list of detailing now comes as the patidars and other general category people have announced their intention to launch a concerted agitation after the Maharashtra Bill for 16 per cent reservations for marathas was passed. PAAS had recently submitted a memorandum to the  State OBC Commission stating that the Maharashtra commission for backwards had accepted that the Maratha community belongs to the backward caste and that on similar lines  the patidars too should qualify in Gujarat. 

The PAAS leader is also in talks with the Congress on the issue and the quota stir is expected to get a push in coming days.

“The BJP is playing with fire  as it sets to play one set of people against the other and this base politics will eventually sink it”, points out former chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela adding “the recent election results of MP, Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh is proof of it”.