Rhetoric And Reality | Political parties and the reservation gamble

Over the decades the Congress has changed its stand favourably towards reservation, while the BJP’s ambivalence continues

Reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Castes have always been the single most rallying point and a pointer towards the clash between ideological positions of various political parties. This was accentuated during the campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) did not commit in its manifesto to any of the manifestations and outcomes of reservation. In contrast, the Congress, in a major departure, explicitly took a pro-reservation stand on the entire gamut of reservations in its 2024 poll manifesto.

Historically, the Congress’ positioning crystallised only after many confabulations following the 1951 rescinding of reservations by the Supreme Court in the Champakam Dorairajan case. The Congress under Jawaharlal Nehru, with B R Ambedkar as law minister, pushed the first amendment to the Constitution to save reservations.

It further consolidated its grip on Dalits during the 1970s when Indira Gandhi increased the reservation percentage from 12.5 per cent to 15 per cent; amended the Untouchability (offences) Act 1955 into the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1977; and introduced a plethora of schemes for the social and economic development of Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes. The 1989, SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was another step of commitment by the Congress.

Meanwhile, political parties in the states, both regional and the Congress, engaged with backward castes through various backward class commissions in the redistribution of jobs and education seats. The demand for backward class reservations in Union government jobs eventually culminated in the implementation of the Mandal Commission report by the V P Singh-led non-Congress government in 1989, which had outside support from the BJP.

The Mandal agitation that followed against the reservations allegedly had the tacit support of the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The withdrawal of support to Singh’s government by the BJP, albeit over L K Advani’s Rath Yatra, still made people believe that the BJP was an anti-reservation party.

After the Indra Sawhney judgement, the OBC reservation was implemented by the Congress government in 1991 and pushed the 77th amendment to save reservations in promotions for SCs and STs. The P V Narasimha Rao government shied away from negating a 50 per cent blockade on the quantum of reservation and withdrawal of reservation in promotion for OBCs, which the Congress has now taken up 30 years later. With a lack of a clear pro-OBC position in the Congress, the backward classes shifted to regional parties, including the Janata Dal variants, paving the way for a coalition era at the Centre between 1995 and 2014. The BJP under A B Vajpayee never got any electoral gains for making three amendments to the Constitution (the 81st, 82nd^, and 85^th) to ensure reservations in promotions for SCs and STs in 2000 and 2002.

To the credit of the Congress-led UPA coalition, it made the 93rd amendment through Article 15(5) in 2005, popularly known as Mandal II, for opening central educational institutions such as IITs and IIMs for OBCs. This was also met with reasonably intense agitation, and again, the BJP showed an ambivalent wavering position. The UPA reaped its political mileage and retained power in 2009. Till now, none of the political parties had the will to implement the provision of Article 15 (5) that will allow reservations in private educational institutions.

After coming to power in 2014, the BJP’s ambivalence continued towards reservations. In the run-up to the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections, the RSS’ statement to have a ‘social review’ of the reservation policy was widely attacked by Opposition parties, which cost the election for the BJP. In early 2019, with the Lok Sabha elections due in a few months, the BJP gave a new twist to the reservation gamble by introducing 10 per cent reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) other than SCs, STs and OBCs, which was strongly opposed by parties that positioned themselves as backward class parties such as the DMK, the Samajwadi Party and the RJD. However, the BJP retained power in 2019.

By adding up to 10 per cent to the pie, the BJP broke the 50 per cent rule of Mandal judgement, which was quickly grabbed by the Congress, now asking for a caste census and reservation which reflects the population strength. This idea was successfully implemented in Bihar with a 2022-2023 caste census in the state pegging SC/ST and Backward Castes population at 84.47 per cent. Consequently, in 2023, through legislation, the Bihar government increased reservations for these communities from 50 to 65 and made it 75 by further adding 10 per cent EWS reservation. In June, the high court struck down the increase in reservations by the Bihar government.

The Patel reservation agitation since 2015 in Gujarat; the simmering Maratha reservation issue since 2018; and the Haryana Jat reservation agitation of 2016 made the BJP-led Union government introduce the 102nd Amendment to bring in a Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) category into the Constitution under Articles 342A and gave constitutional status to SEBCs under 338B. The BJP's desire to control the entry of new castes into the SEBC list backfired when the Maharashtra government notification for granting 10 per cent Maratha reservation was struck down by courts citing the 2018 amendment.

The BJP amended the Constitution again in 2021 to allow states to have their own separate Backward Classes list. However, none of these castes are yet to find their way into the reserved categories. In 2022, BJP’s Basavaraj Bommai-led Karnataka government breached the 50 per cent threshold in the run-up for the 2023 Assembly elections by increasing reservations for SCs and STs by 6 per cent and scrapped 4 per cent OBC-Muslim reservations. This gamble, however, failed.

During the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the lines drawn on reservations were clear. The Congress sought a caste census, reservation based on population, and breaching the 50 per cent threshold. The campaign put the BJP on a back foot, and the RSS made a departure from its 2015 statement unconditionally supporting reservations.

With the Congress demanding caste enumeration in the forthcoming census operations, a recent statement by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while in the United States on reservations got attention. Gandhi, in response to an anti-reservation question, talked about the discriminatory attitude of the BJP that there are hardly one ST, and three SC and OBCs out of the 70 secretaries to the government in the BJP-led Union government.

In a rhetorical repositioning, he said that the day there would be fair play in India, there would be no need for reservations. Little was he aware that 10 years of Congress-led UPA also did not have any SC/ST and OBC secretaries. Given the current disposition of the Congress towards reservations, stoking controversy on this seems to be an inane and inept attempt by the BJP, given its track record.

(Rehnamol Raveendran is assistant professor in political science, University of Allahabad.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.