If Marathas get quota, so will many others : The Tribune India

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If Marathas get quota, so will many others

Time is running out.

If Marathas get quota, so will many others

Impactful: Marathas have taken out more than 50 marches to highlight demands.



Sunil Gatade
Senior journalist

Time is running out. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is seeking to make the most of it. He has told the Marathas to be ready for celebrations on December 1. The long-awaited reservation for the dominant community in the state is going to be a reality by that day, he has declared. It is a tall claim, but Fadnavis has gone methodically, much to the astonishment of his detractors from within and outside.

Next week would decide whether the rollout would be a smooth affair as it is a complex issue and has seen umpteen legal troubles. The government has not revealed how much reservation it seeks to give or has been recommended by the state Backward Classes Commission. The Marathas, constituting some 32 per cent of the state's 11 crore population, are seeking 16 per cent reservation.

Fadnavis has only announced that the quota would be given under the Socially and Economically Backward Class (SEBC) category, apparently to ensure that the OBCs, who have been supporting the BJP and Shiv Sena, are not antagonised. It is a clever move to make a dent into the vote bank of the Marathas, at present mostly shared by Sharad Pawar's NCP and the Congress. 

The way the BJP's sulking ally Shiv Sena, a Hindutva hardliner, has sprung a surprise by demanding reservation for Muslims, too, has sent out the message that the Fadnavis government has come close to cracking the quota code. In the heart of hearts, BJP's detractors would like the gamble to boomrang on the ruling party and if it comes about then the honours should be shared by all.

Lok Sabha elections are just four months away those of the Assembly  scheduled by October next. If the quota gamble succeeds, then Maharashtra could even witness simultaneous polls.

Maratha reservation is seen like a broad spectrum drug which could alleviate certain problems and symptoms of the body politic but could also have side effects if it leads to a sense of alienation or neglect in certain other communities if their grievances are not addressed. Dhangars, the shepherd community, having 1.25 crore people constituting nine per cent of the state's population, are already agitated. The Dhangars have a big presence in 72 of the state's 288 constituencies and in 36, it is sizeable.

For over a decade, ruling parties of different hue have attempted to sell Maratha reservation as a magic wand to cure all problems of the community, with varied results.

Right now, it is sitting on a volcano. The most prosperous state in the country is also the fast changing state, having the largest urbanisation which has brought accompanying problems — vast unemployment, slums and disparities. It is also witnessing agrarian distress and a drought. The spate of farmer suicides is going unabated for years.

Not long ago, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, a Dalit, had even advocated that reservation be raised to 75 per cent once for all so as to accommodate not only the Marathas but all others, including economically weaker sections of the Brahmin community. Fadnavis is a Brahmin, a politically insignificant but educated community. 

The fact that the Marathas, who remained the ruling class of Maharashtra for long since the state’s inception in 1960, tells the story of the decline in the fortunes of a section of the community. There are "haves", but the majority are "have-nots" as power and pelf has been enjoyed by the few who, in a way ,became the creamy layer, and progress and development has bypassed many.

This section, residing mainly in the countryside, has been hit hard due to a variety of problems, including farm distress, fragmentation of land-holdings, unremunerative prices and failure to keep pace with the times in a society growing technologically by the day.

And the reasons are not hard to seek. Maratha is not only the dominant community of Maharashtra but is also so powerful politically that it has called the shots in running the state most of the time and others have been willy-nilly forced to play second fiddle. Sugar cooperatives have helped spread their influence in rural areas, especially in western Maharashtra. Most of the state CMs have been Marathas. 

The community had earlier taken out more than 50 silent marches across the state to highlight their demands, prominently for reservation, which had made quite an impact. The massive marches had created quite an unease in other communities, including those in the OBC category, but they had remained silent for obvious reasons.

A union minister had said it plainly that the way the Marathas were getting united sent a clear message to the non-Marathas, who would back the BJP. He said in Haryana too the Jat agitation had helped the non-Jats consolidate behind the ruling party.

But, the BJP is playing a shrewd game through the Maratha reservation gamble in Maharashtra. Its aim is to make inroads into the Maratha votes and if it succeeds even to a certain extent, its footprint would grow, much to the detriment of its detractors. Already, it is the elephant in the room in the Congress-minded state. Tomorrow could be a different story.

Narendra Modi-Amit Shah might be thinking that if they succeed in the experiment in Maharashtra, they could replicate it in Gujarat where the Patidars are agitating, in Haryana where the Jats are on the warpath and in Rajasthan where Gujjars have often come to streets. Needless to say, it could help the BJP in Jat-dominated western UP and parts of Rajasthan, too.

It is, however, to be seen which issues would dominate in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

Some critics feel that this strategy of 'running with the hare and hunting with the hound' could backfire.

All in all, the BJP has put its best foot forward in Maharashtra through its smart, articulate and non-controversial Chief Minister who in the last four years has become a leader in his own right. Now all eyes are on December 1.

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