A QUOTA WAR REIGNITES

The Maratha demand for reservations in jobs and education returns to roil the state's politics

- DHAVAL KULKARNI

Seven years after the dominant Maratha community first launched a series of silent morchas (protest marches) for their demands like reservations in jobs and education, the issue has returned to haunt politics in Maharashtra. Since 2016, around 58 'Maratha Kranti Morchas'-some of them having hundreds of thousands of people joining them were organised in Maharashtra and neighbouring states. The agitation turned violent in 2018, further beleaguering the then Devendra Fadnavis-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena coalition. There was speculation that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which has a strong base among the Marathas and was then in the Opposition, had fuelled these protests to corner Fadnavis, a Brahmin. However, the Maratha protests saw countermobilisation by the non-Marathas, especially by the upwardly mobile other backward classes (OBCs), who felt that the Marathas would eventually eat into their 27 per cent share of reservations. These groups organised 'Bahujan Kranti Morchas' across the state on similar lines.

The Marathas (Kshatriyas or warriors) and Kunbis (peasants or tillers) are said to account for 31.5 per cent of Maharashtra's population, while the OBCs are said to be over 52 per cent. However, the Kunbis, who have significant numbers in the Konkan and Vidarbha regions, where they may not be endogamous with the Marathas, are already in the OBC category.

Much water has flown under the bridge since the first Maratha morcha in 2016. The Fadnavis government in 2018 approved a bill to grant the Marathas 16 per cent ring-fenced quotas in education and jobs. The Bombay High Court upheld the constitutional validity of the law but trimmed the quota to 12 per cent in education and 13 per cent in jobs. In 2021, the Supreme Court struck down the law. However, some Maratha groups persisted with their demand and organised sporadic agitations.