Gujarat : Reservation Issue Back To Forefront

 

BY R.K.MISRA

The reservation kettle has begun to hiss and rattle even before the poll battle gets underway in Gujarat.

It just took  the July 2  order of the State election Commission(SEC)to all district collectors in the state directing them to convert  the 10 per cent seats reserved for Other Backward Castes(OBCs)into general seats, to put the pot on the boil. The Gujarat Panchayats Act mandates ten per cent reservation for OBC communities in the gram panchayat elections and these are due in over 3200 of them.

Though the SEC is yet to notify the elections to local self-government bodies, the orders to  the district authorities is seen as a preparatory exercise in that direction. Nevertheless, this one move was enough for political parties-both ruling and in the opposition-to switch to high decibel mode and turn it into an issue for the forthcoming State Assembly elections due in December  this year.

The Congress was fast on the uptake charging the ruling BJP and its government with utter failure in protecting the interests of the OBC. With protests rising rapidly, the Bhupendra Patel- led BJP government in the state moved within a week to announce  constituting  a new commission headed by retired High Court judge K.S.Jhaveri to study the issue in depth before deciding on seats for OBCs in local self-government bodies.

 The SEC directive to all district units of the state is in conformity  with the orders of the Supreme Court in December 2021  suspending  OBC quotas for local body polls in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh citing lack of empirical data .The Odisha High Court cited the apex court order to stay panchayat polls in its state for similar reasons.

The Supreme Court ruled in December last that the decision for OBC reservations taken by states were not in conformity with the 2010 ruling of the five-judge constitution bench. In 12 year old ruling, the apex court had directed a triple test before apportioning seats for OBCs which mandated setting up of a commission to conduct rigorous empirical inquiry into the backwardness and its implications in the local bodies within the state, also to specify the proportion of reservation needed to be provided  for, local body-wise and strict adherence to the proviso that all reservations taken together shall not exceed 50 per cent of the total seats.

In December itself the Centre had moved the Supreme Court seeking recall of its order. In January this year the apex court declined to recall its  December 2021 order staying OBC quotas for Maharashtra local polls, holding that no state or union territory can be permitted to hold local self-government body elections with 27 per cent reservation for OBCs without empirical data on the population and representation of OBCs.

The states seemed to have conveniently forgotten the 2010 apex court guidelines as politicos in power went chasing vote’ banks’. It was only when the Supreme Court moved in December last cracking the whip, striking down the Maharashtra and MP OBC reservations in local body elections, that the states went into damage control mode. However on May 10, the Supreme Court allowed Madhya Pradesh to hold local self- government body elections with OBC quota though not Maharashtra. Gujarat, in deep slumber, remained a laggard state until pubic protests in an election year shook it to the core.

With almost 52 per cent OBC population, the ruling BJP can ill-afford to go-easy on the issue. And the wake- up call came from the Congress which went all out charging the ruling party with pursuing the RSS agenda of doing away with reservations for backward communities.

BJP,OBC leader Alpesh Thakor had a muted response. ”It is the result of  negligence on the part of people entrusted with the job in the government”. Independent Jignesh Mevani, now aligned with the Congress was more strident, ”This attitude of the state government will be challenged and combatted”, he  added, BJP leader Hardik Patel, did not seem to be standing up to be counted on the issue. In March this year the state government withdraw 10 cases related to the 2015  patidar quota stir including those against Hardik Patel.

The irony is not lost. The troika of  Thakore, Patel and Mevani had taken Gujarat by storm in 2015.Thakore led the OBCs and Hardik the patidars seeking OBC quota reservation in academic admissions and jobs. Both joined the Congress holding high positions and subsequently quit to join the BJP, the very party and government they had opposed tooth and nail. Dalit leader Mevani remains steadfastly opposed to the government and  except for a technicality is a part of the Congress whose state party chief Jagdish Thakor is an OBC and has promised a statewide stir.

The Ruling BJP is aware  of the new found aggression in the Congress leadership in the state  and has therefore taken a public stance expressing its commitment  towards OBC reservation. The government move to appoint the commission is seen as a step to win the OBCs to its side.

Though the government remains tightlipped on when the commission will submit its report and the  gram panchayat elections be held, a highly placed BJP leader was of the opinion that the recommendations  shall flow before the panchayat polls  and  the advantage of reservations for OBCs shall be reflected not only in the panchayat polls but Gujarat Assembly elections as well.

Easier said than done ,observes former Congress Leader of Opposition, Paresh Dhanani. ”The seats of the ruling party have been consistently falling in Gujarat until it was reduced to less than hundred in a House of 182 in 2017.Wait for the surprise, this year”, he adds.

(http://odishapostepaper.com/edition/4152/orissapost/page/9)