The Maratha, Jat and Patidar agitations for reservation underline the need for a comprehensive quota policy in our country

The flavour of the season is the demand for quotas. From the Jats in Haryana to the Patidars in Gujarat to the Kapus in Andhra Pradesh. The Marathas are the latest one to demand reservation. They have resorted to peaceful silent marches, but have threatened to escalate that soon. Even as the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP Government in Maharashtra is struggling to face the unprecedented silent marches, there is unrest in the OBCs, Muslims and Dalits.

The gruesome rape and murder of a young Maratha girl by four Dalit men in the Kopardi village of Ahmednagar district in July, triggered the protest. Since then, the Maratha uprising has picked up pace without the presence of politicians. However, powerful Maratha leaders, including Sharad Pawar and Ashok Chavan, have given their tacit support to the silent movement.

The Marathas have three demands. First, reservation for Marathas. Second, modification of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Third, punishment to the Kopardi rape accused. Under the said Act, stringent punishment including a prison sentence is given to those who hurt the sentiments of a Dalit, through actions or words, or both. The Marathas claim that this Act is being misused.

The ‘Muk Morcha’ is picking up since the first rally in Aurangabad district on August 10. The novelty is that almost every rally since then (40 such rallies have been taken out) is led by women and school-going girls carrying placards demanding justice for the victim. They account for almost 30 per cent of the protesters. Politicians are keeping away, avoiding responsibility in case the movement becomes a failure.

The demand for quota dates back to the 1980s, but picked up pace in 2008, when the then Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, lent tacit supported to the demand made by their respective parties’ Maratha legislators ahead of the 2009 polls. In 2014, the Congress-NCP Government, led by Prithviraj Chavan, passed a law providing for 16 per cent reservation to Marathas in education and jobs to appease them. However, in a year, the Bombay High Court scrapped the quota, stating that the community is neither socially nor educationally backward. The final order is pending.

The Fadnavis Government is facing a Catch-22 situation. The Marathas account for 34 per cent of the population and have played a dominant role in the socio-economic and political ethos of the State. They have adequate representation (33 per cent) in the present Assembly and 13 of the 18 Chief Ministers of the State were from this community. The creamy layer among them holds land, money, political power, educational institutions and industries. They control the rural economy through their hold on cooperative bodies, including banks. 

Interestingly, while OBCs and other castes have made progress in education, the Marathas have not. 

Politically, the agitation has shaken the ruling BJP- Sena combine. The Chief Minister, who is a Brahmin, understands that caste politics can work against him as Brahmins comprises only 3.5 per cent of the State’s population. Already there are speculations that these rallies are a ploy to ensure his ouster. The BJP did well by getting 24 per cent of the Maratha votes in 2014 Assembly polls.

Chief Minister Fadnavis understands that the demands of the community are hard to meet. The major issue is how to accommodate them within the stipulated limit without annoying other castes. On the other hand, its coalition partner, the Shiv Sena, is openly siding with the Marathas. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has even demanded a special session to discuss the Act.

like in the BJP, Marathas in the Congress and its off-shoot, the NCP, are equally restless. Both the parties lost their Maratha base in the recent Assembly poll and also fear a rout in the forthcoming local bodies polls.

The recent mobilisation of Marathas is opening up other fronts. It has pitted them against the Dalits. The two have had an uneasy relationship for decades. There is growing resentment among the young Marathas that the Atrocities Act empowers the Dalits to act against the upper caste. The BJP is caught in the middle because the Dalits supported the BJP in the Assembly poll.

The time has come to review the reservation policy and find other ways of meeting genuine demands.

(The writer is a political commentator and a syndicated columnist)