Twin blows to OBCs
By Kancha Ilaiah
The backward class politicians failed in forcing the government to
undertake a caste-wise census of all sections.
The Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the country have had two setbacks
in the recent political manoeuvring of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan
Singh. The pushing of the Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha
and also starting the process of census without initiating the
caste-based enumeration of population that gets released in 2011.
On both these issues the OBC leadership of the nation has not shown
enough strength and imagination to counter the strategies of the
ruling Congress. The Congress party was clever enough to work out its
strategy around a bill that has a national moral appeal to various
sections of people in the country to counter the rise of the OBC
political forces.
As of now, the OBCs have no reservation in the legislative bodies.
Without having such a reservation, if this bill is passed, OBC men,
who are organising their own base in certain constituencies and also
in certain regions will slowly get displaced.
The possibilities of many of them losing out because these
constituencies get specifically targeted for reservation for women are
very much there. The possibility of OBC women getting their own share
in parliament and Assemblies is not there because they cannot compete
with the upper caste women who have money and material resources.
Of course, on the question of Women's Reservation Bill there is some
organised resistance. The Congress might face a critical situation in
case it introduces it in the Lok Sabha. Reluctance of many male
members of almost all parties may put the the bill in cold storage for
some more time. The question of quota within quota is a serious issue
and its resolution becomes difficult because unless the OBC
reservation in all legislative bodies is introduced, application of
the principle to OBC women would become difficult.
The general mood of the upper caste parliamentarians in the country is
to oppose the OBC reservation at all levels. On this score, the OBCs
may not be able to succeed in achieving reservations in the
legislative bodies but they may stall passing of the bill in the
present form.
Since Mamata Banerjee is very adamant about the share of Muslims, the
resistance to passing the bill in the present form comes from her as
well. If only Muslim women get reservation within women's bill, that
may help the process of reform among Muslims in general and Muslim
women in particular.
Lost opportunity
But at another level, the process of census has already started. Quite
tragically, the OBC political class did not show any enthusiasm in
forcing the government to obtain the caste-wise census of all
sections. Even in this census the question of enumerating the
caste-wise division of the people other than that of SCs and STs will
not take place.
For the next 10 years on many matters of the OBC reservation their
strength remains a disputable issue. Though the upper caste political
class has always been opposed to the caste-wise census, the judiciary
has been playing a double game on this question. On one hand it has
been asking for properly computed numbers of the OBCs and on the
other, it refused to direct the Centre to initiate a caste census so
that this confusion could be removed.
Collecting the exact population data on each caste would resolve many
problems of policy making. In fact, when the 2001 census was taken
senior BJP leader L K Advani, as then the home minister mooted that
caste should become a category of data mobilisation, but within no
time he backed out of it and the data mobilisation was done as usual
in old pattern.
Now again there was some debate about caste getting deployed as
critical category of data mobilisation, but Union home minister P
Chidamabaram always remained silent about such a step. May be because
Sonia Gandhi herself was opposed to it. Unfortunately, the DMK — which
is playing a crucial role in the UPA, which heralded many agendas of
the OBCs — also remained silent on this issue.
Ever since the Mandal agenda was set in motion in the early 1990s the
fear of OBC mobilisation is the most significant issue in working out
national policies by all upper caste leaders.
Mahatma Jyoti Rao Phule, whose Jayanthi was celebrated on April 11, is
becoming a rallying point of OBCs who are divided on many counts. But
the problem is in north India. Both Mulayam Singh and Lalu Prasad
don't use Phule as an icon of OBC mobilisation. Their ideological icon
is still Ram Manohar Lohia, whom the OBCs of the south and Maharashtra
do not accept.
Unless the OBC leaders work around a common iconic figure across the
country and build an ideological agenda of transformation of the whole
society they will not be able to force the upper castes to accept
their critical demands. It is better that all OBC leaders accept
Mahatma Phule as their common modern symbol and work for the progress
of the OBCs across the nation.
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