Will RSS chief’s support for reservation help BJP in states headed for assembly polls?

RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, in the backdrop of the quota protests by Marathas in Maharashtra and impending assembly polls in four states, has significantly said that the Sangh completely supported reservation provided under the Indian Constitution and that it should be continued till the time discrimination exists in society.

Bhagwat’s remark should come as reassurance for BJP campaign managers who have been tasked with deftly handling the caste matrix in poll-bound Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. The Marathas are the dominant community in Maharashtra, and their demand for reservation under the OBC (Other Backward Classes) category could cause a churn and protests among OBCs in these four states.

Reservation for OBCs was a hot topic in the 2018 assembly election in Madhya Pradesh. The OBC reservation issue in local body polls in the state is still unresolved. OBCs constitute over 51 per cent of the population in Madhya Pradesh, 38 per cent in Chhattisgarh, 48 per cent in Telangana and over 50 per cent in Rajasthan.

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis (of the BJP) had to offer an apology for the recent police lathi-charge on reservation protesters in Jalna in the state. BJP poll managers are also keeping an eye on caste surveys being done by several states to determine reservation policies for OBCs as well as the demand made by parties to the Narendra Modi government do hold a national caste census.

In 2015, interpretations of the RSS chief’s remarks on reservation had impacted the BJP’s prospects in the Bihar assembly polls and complicated the handling of quota protests by the Patidars in Gujarat and Jats in Haryana. The RSS sarsanghchalak, at the time, had said: “Had we implemented this (reservation) policy as envisaged by architects of the Constitution instead of doing politics over it, the present situation [in the country] wouldn’t have arrived. Since inception, it (reservation) has been politicised.”

The remark was perceived as a dig on the quota agitations by dominant communities in various parts of the country for inclusion in the OBC list. Some even interpreted it as Bhagwat seeking a social review of the entire reservation policy. Such interpretations were rebutted by Manmohan Vaidya, then prachar pramukh of the Sangh, who argued that Bhagwat had only called for considering extending the benefits of reservation to all weaker sections of the society as envisioned by the architects of the Constitution. But for the BJP, the damage was done and felt in the Bihar election.

The BJP may now look at using Bhagwat’s firm support for reservation to strengthen its appeal among the OBCs. Over the past decade, the BJP has managed to shed the image of a party predominantly representing the Brahmins, Baniyas and other upper caste Hindus. It has expanded its base among OBCs and Dalits while also achieving geographical expansion. The RSS has benefited from the same, adding cadre and shakhas among these demographic blocs.

While the RSS and the BJP have never opposed quota, anti-reservation sentiment has brewed due to a large fraction of their support base being the upper castes. The sentiment reflected in the anti-Mandal Commission protests and violence of 1989-90, and it was even perceived that the BJP had launched the Ram Janmabhoomi movement to counter the damage suffered.

Bhagwat, in his recent statement, said reservation was one of the “special remedies” until society provided equality that had eluded deprived communities for 2,000 years. “Reservations have to continue till there is such discrimination. We, at the RSS, extend all support to reservations provided in the Constitution,” he said. For the time being, then, BJP poll managers can breathe easy.

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