Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

The demand to include the Patels in the OBC and give reservation to the community for education and jobs has been a topic of debate, on and off for years now. According to the political and social experts, these type of agitations demanding reservations are slowly but steadily trying to change the real concept of reservation, which is caste.

Hardik Patel, the spearhead of the Patidars agitation, though only 24 has become a major issue of concern for the political parties, especially in Gujarat. Patidars are among the oldest vote bank of the Bhartiya Janta Party who have been ruling in Gujarat for 22 years. But, recently with the demand of reservation by the Patidars, not being taken seriously, the community is protesting against BJP, threating to withdraw its vote and join hands with the opposition if they do not agree to the demands.

But the question that arises is that, is it even constitutionally possible to grant what the Patidars are demanding? If yes, how long before the other communities follow the footsteps of the Patidars and come out on the roads asking to fulfill their demands also or face the violent agitation.

Hardik in less than two years has gained so much popularity because it is not just the demand of the Patidars, he can connect with the demands of many other and he symbolizes his problem with strong intensity, which may be enough to shake the grounds beneath any political party. And this is exactly what Hardik is doing in Gujarat, from past few days, he has kept both BJP and Congress on their toes, with each of them fearing Hardik supporting the other.

The Patidars hold one-fifth of the population of India, and though they cannot individually win any polls, but can sure be a reason for defeat to any political party. The Congress is trying hard to lure the Patidars to their side, and as per the news reports, Congress has already promised 20% reservation to the Patidars under the EBC category, but has the party even given a thought if it is practically possible to give reservation to the Patidars or what may be the long term consequences of kneeling down to their demands.

Hardik Patel is the new name of the problem, dogging Indian polity. He is a problem giving invitations many alike problems because he is asking for the demand to be fulfilled that only surfaces the problem of the Patidar community. If by any chance the Patidars manages to get the reservations than it will chunk off a major corner of the reservation and this will surely affect the OBCs badly.

The Patidars constitute 12% of the population in Gujarat, while the OBC constitute 40% of the population. The OBCs enjoy 27% reservation, while the scheduled castes have 7 % of reservation and the scheduled tribes 15%. Thus, Gujarat has already distributed 49% of reservation, only 1% less than permitted by the constitution of India. But 1% increase in the reservation, is not what Hardik is demanding for, which means if the political parties promise to agree to the terms of Patidars, they will have to look out a way to change the law of reservation, which is practically not possible.

While the OBCs are protesting against the demand of Hardik Patel fearing that if the Patidars are included in the OBC, their share of the 27% will have to be shared which will definitely affect the OBC population. Fearing otherwise for the OBCS, Alpesh Thakor, the leader of the OBCs, taking a precautionary step in advance joined the Congress.

He had first demonstrated his objection to the demand of the Patidars back in 2015 and had threatened that he will stir a strong counter-movement if the Patidars are granted a category under the OBC. Since the OBC are larger in number and hold 40% of the population in Gujarat, no political party would have taken the risk to displease 40% to keep the 12% happy.

Now the challenge for both the parties is “How to grant reservation to a socially dominant caste without alienating the OBCs already benefitting from the socially affirmative action?”

According to the constitution, any state can only grant up to 50% of the reservation. If either the BJP or the Congress promises reservation to the Patidars can be done only by including the act in the ninth schedule, which will spare it from the judicial scrutiny under Art 31-B of the Constitution. But there still lies an obstacle in this step, that is, in 2007 the Supreme court had said that “it could review all laws placed after 24 Apri 1973 in the Ninth Schedule on the “touchstone of violation of the fundamental rights and the basic structure doctrine.”

While the Patidars are giving an example of the changes made by the Rajasthan government, regarding the reservations to the Gujjars and four others, and demanding a revamp of the reservation rules in Gujarat as well.

Tha Rajasthan government only a few days back had passed a bill raising the reservation for the Gujjars and four other backward communities from 21% to 26%. Hardik Patel’s colleague, Atul Patel underlined the point that the reservation policies in Gujarat should be amended and the economic criteria should be the base for the reservation instead of the caste.

However, the former Chief Minister Anandiben Patel had already taken a move reading economic criteria. She had announced a 10% reservation for those under Rs 6 lakh of annual income.

Demanding amendments in the reservation policies is not a new thing, after the cast violence in Gujarat in 1981, the RSS had passed a resolution advocating the continuation of reservation but suggested a deliberation on the matter. The resolution read that “the policy of reservation has, because of its wrong implementation, become a tool of power politics and election tactics instead of serving the purpose for which it was framed. And this has resulted in generating mutual ill will and conflict in our society in several parts of the country.”

RSS had reiterated this demand again in 1985, after the caste violence in 1985.

These frequent demonstrating and protests have become a tool for the communities that they can use as and when they like to get their demands fulfilled.

The Gujjars of Rajasthan have also been demanding to shift them from the OBC category to the Scheduled Tribe category, citing that even under the reservation they are unable to avail the benefits as there is already tough competition.

While Gujjars are demanding inclusion in SCST, the Meenas are opposing their inclusion, as the fear that if the Gujars are included in the SCST then there share of jobs will be then grabbed by them. Trying to handle the situation tactfully, the Rajasthan government included the Gujjars in the MBC (More Backward Classes) in increased the reservation to the OBC from 21 to 26%.

But this move of the Rajasthan government also does not comply with the rules of the constitution as it is exceeding the reservation cap by 4%. which means that the Supreme Court is likely to ultimately strike it down.

Taking a lesson from the Rajasthan incident, both the Patidars and the political parties, promising them the reservation and practically implementing of the promise is not possible.

Hardik is well aware of the fact that no political party will choose the support of the 12% over the 40% and therefore he is only trying to use tactics to get his demands fulfilled. But one thing that both the Patidars and the political parties needs to understand is that if by some means they talk over the reservation to the Patidras, even than including any community under the OBC category is not that easy.

As the process goes, first the recommendation to include any community in the OBC must come from the state backward class commission. Then if the first step is cleared, for the community to be included in the Central list a social group must convince the National Backward Class Commission (NCBC) of its case.

A similar case was brought up during the Manmohan Singh government when the Jats wanted inclusion in the OBC. After the government failed in convincing the NCBC to include Jat under the OBC, it gave up the idea and instead raised the reservation for the OBC, which was also struck down by the Supreme Court.

However, the Modi government had thought of a solution to overcome this situation which was arising time and again. The Modi government introduced the 123rd Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha earlier this year. The Bill transfers the power to decide on the inclusion and exclusion of social groups in the reservation pool from NCBC to Parliament.

The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha, though after the opposition of the Bill by the Congress, it was amended in the Rajya Sabha, which made it mandatory for the government to ordinarily accept the Commission’s recommendations. If the government still do not take up the recommendations of the NCBC, it will have to submit a written reason to the parliament, which would then be reviewed by the courts to decide whether the government’s decisions on inclusion or exclusion of social groups in the reservation pool are arbitrary.

As per the latest updates, Hardik Patel in a statement to the press said that the Congress party had assured reservation for the Patidars and inclusion in the OBC. He had also declared that he will formal announcements of Patidars extending their support to Congress only after meeting with Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, which is scheduled to be held in the first week of November.

Hardik has also warned the Congress party to make it clear to Hardik as to how they will get them the reservation, by 3 Nov, or the party should be ready to face the same result as the BJP had faced during the rally of Amit Shah.

According to the political and the constitutional experts, they are not sure what exactly is Rahul’s move behind the promise and how the Congres Vice President is going to fulfill the promise as the getting both the reservation and inclusion in OBC seem like an impossible task. If by any chance Rahul is able to convince Hardik, in that case, both the rivals, the Patidar leader Hardik Patel protesting for reservation and the OBC leader Alpesh Thakor protesting against the reservation will be on the same side, supporting the Congress.

In such a situation, the experts have raised the question that “Can Rahul’s assurances pass judicial and constitutional impediments as well as satisfy Hardik without alienating Alpesh?”

It is a major risk that the Congress is playing upon. If the Congress comes to power, Hardik will mount pressure on the government to keep up to its promise, which most likely it will fail to satisfy the Patidars. If this happens Hardik will be back on the roads, this time protesting against the Congress, which will definitely hamper and affect the image of the party, right before the Lok Sabha elections due in 2019.

Congress will have to take every move very carefully as even if the party wins in Gujarat, hoping to then win in 2019 also, after much hard work and campaigning, but fails to fulfill the promises made to the Patidars, it can forget about even thinking of winning the 2019 polls.

Trying hard to get the maximum support and finally end the political exile of 22 years, Congress has argued that the party has promised 20% reservation to the Patidras under the economically backward classes (EBC). The party claimed that it has very clearly from the very first day stated that Congress can give 20% reservation to the Patidars economically backward classes (EBC), without disturbing the 49%  reservation given to the scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (ST) and other backward classes (OBC).

Responding to these clarifications made by the Congress, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani attacked Hardik Patel, saying that is is Patel who needs to make his stand clear and not the Congress. He reminded Hadik that the Congress was not promising him reservation under the OBC category. He said that BJP had already offered 10% reservation under the EBC and it is BJP that has always stood beside the Patidars and done everything for the community and still he has asked the community to support Congress in the upcoming assembly elections.

In his statement to the media, Rupani said that “It is Hardik, not Congress, who needs to clear his stand because the Congress’s stand is already clear. While Hardik’s agitation is about the OBC quota, the opposition party has already said they cannot give reservation to the Patidars under the OBC quota. Contrary to what Hardik is demanding, the Congress is promising reservation under the EBC category. Even then, Hardik is talking about extending support to the party.”

“On the other side, we have already passed a bill to give a 10% EBC quota to the non-reserved communities. Whatever has been given has been given by us, while the Congress has only played politics over the issue,” he added.

After all the debate and the pros and cons of the promise made by the Congress, the statements made by Hardik is only projecting that at present the only thing that matters to the Patidar leader is scaring the BJP and teaching them a lesson for not treating him well.

After conducting a road show, Patel while addressing a huge gathering urged the people not to vote for the BJP in the upcoming polls. Even though BJP would use communal weapons and emotional tactics, the people should be strong and take the right decision by not voting for BJP or they would regret it later, he said.

Prime Minister Modi has only two weapons — Hindu-Muslim (sic) and he will also shed tears. He will surely succeed in the latter. I urge you not to get emotional when you go to vote. If you don’t take the appropriate decision, you will regret in future,” he told the crowd.

He also attacked the ruling BJP mocking on the recent inauguration done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Dahej-Ghogha Ro-Ro ferry service. Taking a jibe at the PM in regards to the “Vikas Gando Thai Gayo Chhe (Vikas Gone Mad)” slogan used by the Rahul Gandhi, he said that “Vikas gando nahi lulo thai gayo chhe (Vikas has not gone mad but has been crippled.”

This agitation led by Hardik Patel, putting pressure on political parties to kneel down to the demands to gain support may become a dangerous weapon to be used by other communities also to get their demands fulfilled. Therefore the political and constitutional experts concerned about the situation are saying that “Hardik isn’t just the new name of the problem dogging India’s polity. Hardik Patel is the name that will split Indian society horizontally and turn Indian polity volatile, it is a name of India’s political illness that awaits a cure.