360 degrees: Beyond mandal rhetoric

Is it a sheer coincidence or a reflection of our political reality that Mandal emerges parallel to the Mandir or vice-versa when either becomes the dominant force in the country? Is Mandal anymore a pure and simple OBC resurgence or for that matter is the Mandir anymore representative of the so-called upper castes alone?

Much water has flown down the Yamuna since the then Prime Minister V.P. Singh announced acceptance of the recommendation of the Mandal Commission report and was soon swept out of power by a wave of protests across the country and the subsequent withdrawal of support by the BJP.

For a while it seemed that the issue has been settled for good as in the case of the reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes which over the last several decades has come to be accepted as a fait accompli by one and all.

Again, BJP, which was often viewed as representing the interests of the privileged castes, has itself undergone a metamorphosis of sorts with a sizeable section of its leadership coming from the Other Backward Classes, right from the Prime Minister to chief ministers.

But it is the ever-burgeoning demand for inclusion in the OBC category by caste groups all over India which has once again brought the issue of reservation to the forefront.

From the powerful Marathas in Maharashtra to the influential Patels in Gujarat, caste after caste across the country are making a beeline for reservation, looking at it more as a panacea for the rising unemployment rates and a potent weapon to flex their political muscle. Even the impoverished but miniscule Nambudiri community in Kerala which once owned large tracts of land across the state  are now seeking minority status.

With elections due in Bihar, considered the cradle of the country’s caste politics, it is but natural that the debate has come to occupy the centre stage.
In a recent interview, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat lamented the politicisation of reservation policy and suggested formation of a committee to decide which categories require quota and for how long.

While he did not apparently call for a reservation per se as was made out by many critics, that was fodder enough for the likes of Lalu to reaffirm their claim as champions of the OBC cause, notwithstanding the fact that they don’t electorally see eye to eye with the other champions in the neighbourhood such as Mulayam Singh Yadav.

While the OBC quotas have certainly served to politically and consequently economically and socially empower some of these communities with sizeable populations in states, the fact also remains that the caste dynamics too has changed in these places leading to political and social conflicts between these resurgent communities backed by dominant political parties and the Dalits, who in spite of availing reservation for a long time, continue to remain on the fringes.

Moreover, these reservations have also led to a sort of reverse discrimination wherein the poor among the so-called forward castes are being punished and denied opportunities for faults their forefathers are alleged to have committed.

A recent study by IndiaSpend states that OBCs “have disproportionately cornered affirmative-action quotas.” In three of six large Indian states, OBCs have more government jobs reserved than SCs or STs, it said.

The fact also remains that even the SC in its successive interpretation of the Mandal Commission recommendations maintained that the ‘creamy layer’ should be kept out of the ambit of reservation for OBCs and suggested a review after ten years to take note of the change of circumstances.

On the other hand, a 2012 report of the Department of Personnel has reportedly stated that OBCs hold less than 15% of government jobs and only 8.4% of Grade A jobs, which if true means that much remains to be done and a lot of arguments against the reservation policy is hyped up rather than them being factual.

The issue of revisiting the reservation policy has been raised not only by the RSS chief but also by several senior Congress leaders including Manish Tewari, Jitin Prasada and Janardan Dwivedi, the last having gone to the extent of demanding an end to reservation on caste lines.

There are also larger questions being raised including whether allocating quotas on the basis of caste itself is a form of racial discrimination and against the spirit of the right to equality being enshrined in the Constitution? Can affirmative action encompass as large as over 60% of the population as in the case of Tamil Nadu?

Do lowering of marks herald lowering of standards also? Wouldn’t it be wiser to spend more on improving the educational standards at the primary level rather than going in for quota at the higher levels including jobs? Will quota politics lead to political parties targeting private enterprises for reservation politics and in the process adversely impact the investment and industrialisation targets?

No policy legislated by the Parliament can be more sacrosanct than the inalienable rights enshrined in the Constitution. If review is too strong a word to digest, it would certainly not be unfair to at least initiate an impassioned study/analysis by a respectable body on the benefits of reservation and possible course correction, if needed, rather than ignoring the debate and blindly pursuing a policy which has far-reaching implications for the fragile social fabric .

(The author is Adjunct Professor, Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication, Bhopal)