Dharmendra Jore: Courting the demand for quota

In the first week of the winter session of the Maharashtra legislature currently being held in Nagpur no other issue was as hyped as the demand for a 16 per cent reservation for the Maratha community in jobs and education But whatever the Maharashtra government has promised in the legislature will largely depend on the Bombay High Courtrsquos verdict on the issueThe government knows the hurdle so does the opposition Still they attempted a game of oneupmanship in the winter session creating an impression that they really worked for raising the demands of communities like Marathas and Dhangars or a set of communities such as other backward classes OBCs scheduled castes and tribes SCsSTs and MuslimsThe Marathas are on a warpath sans violence that is synonymous with castereservation related protests So far so good one must say but not many in Sakal Maratha Samaj the organising body that has held more than 50 silent marches across that state assure that the agitation would stick to an agenda of nonviolence if the delay in meeting its demand is inordinate The community has been readying itself to bat in the slog overs of the match they term as a dooradie battle ndash it has planned a massive march to the state legislature in Nagpur on December 14 before they replicate the same in the state capital next year A worried government has made a soothing effect by announcing a wholehearted support to the community and at the same time it is praying that the march in Nagpur doesnrsquot turn out to be an embarrassment in case the participants vent out their suppressed sentimentsThe governmentsrsquo fears are justified because the Maratha community which has been showing exemplary unity is now facing feud within its rank A section of Marathas has decided to take to politics in the forthcoming polls The explanation that politically motivated Maratha sections have given is that they donrsquot want to get affiliated with established political forces because of the exploitation their community has suffered in votebank politics They want to create an alternative on the basis of a domination that the Marathas have had in the state politics But the breakaway Maratha outfits have not been able to negate the charge that they are sponsored by parties sitting in the government or opposition A majority of Marathas who stand with the Sakal Maratha Samaj donrsquot deny a possibility of established political parties hijacking the agitation further for political gainsAs was said earlier in this column the Maratha agitation has caused a rift in the society The Dalits and the OBCs have raised a banner of revolt against the government The Dalits see a demand for diluting the act for preventing atrocities against them as a big bane if approved The OBCs fear that the Marathas may eat into their share of quota and other communities such as Dhangar Lingayat and Koli fishermen too have pressed for a quota for themselves The demand from nonMaratha communities is expected to sharpen further as the government gets more sympathetic towards MarathasIt was this concern of the disgruntled communities that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis attempted to comfort in his speech in the legislature The twoday debate saw all party members supporting a quota for Marathas and the feisty response that Fadnavis delivered revolved around vote politics Allegations and counterallegations flew thick and fastFadnavis ensured the communities within his partyrsquos reach were given a positive signal On the other hand he saw to it that the Muslims were flatly refused a quota on the basis on religion because the BJP knows Muslims can never be converted into a dedicated vote bank Instead the CM accused the Congress and the NCP of misleading and exploiting the Muslims The BJPrsquos game plan has always been aimed at diverting the Muslims from the Congress to a party like AIMIM The division of votes helps The latest civic polls in Maharashtra where the AIMIM split votes in favour of the BJP stand testimony to this tactic The same ploy will be used in cutting the Congress to size in the BMC pollsGiving more reservations within a statutory framework is longer a simple thing because of increasing number of seekers across the country The courts have struck down unconstitutional provisions and since solutions may not lie in reservations alone the Centre and State governments should urgently think of an alternative for raising the social and economical levels of the seekersStandfirst The government knows the hurdle so does the opposition Still they attempted a game of oneupmanship in the winter session creating an impression that they really worked for raising the demands of communities like Marathas and Dhangars or a set of communities such as OBCs SCsSTs and MuslimsDharmendra Jore is political editor midday He tweets dharmendrajore Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom