DC Edit | Quota misadventure backfires

The Supreme Court striking down the 10.5 per cent internal reservation for Vanniyakula Kshatriya community within the 20 per cent earmarked for Most Backward Communities (MBC) in Tamil Nadu is a classic case of a political misadventure blowing up in the face of those who venture into it. The Vanniyars, who were part of the bouquet of 115 odd castes enjoying the MBC reservation benefits, suddenly wanted to have all the 20 per cent to themselves at the behest of Dr S. Ramadoss, the founder of PMK who identifies himself as the champion of the community. He called for an agitation by Vanniyars when the AIADMK was on the last lap of its regime and when it evoked poor response, Dr Ramadoss struck a deal with the government led by Edappadi K. Palaniswami to provide for 10.5 per cent exclusive reservation to Vanniyars as a face-saving measure.

So the legislation to give shape to that deal was brought in haste, exposing it to legal scrutiny. The Supreme Court on Thursday said that the legislation violated the fundamental rights of equality, non-discrimination and equal opportunity of the 115 other MBC and de-notified communities. That might not have diminished the bravado of Mr Ramadoss as he hopes to get back the exclusive reservation somehow. But it could be only a pyrrhic victory. Since he had called for that agitation in 2020 on the lines of the one that he spearheaded in 1987 that actually led to the creation of the MBC quota itself, the carving out of 10.5 per cent for Vanniyars from the 20 per cent could be attributed to him. But now, if the quota is to be restored through the efforts of the present government, which alone can do it by passing another law providing updated data unlike the “antiquated data” of the AIADMK government, the credit for it may be snatched away by the DMK. And it may not be to the liking of Mr Ramadoss.