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What Gujjars
want, and Why?
WSN Bureau
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Gujjars are covered under OBC quota of 27.5 per cent but are
demanding shift to ST quota which is only 7.5 per cent. Indian
media is not asking why would anyone want to move from more
quota to lesser one? The story lies in the lies that the Indian
establishment tells. It just does not full those quotas. |
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 India's middle
class' grunt-in-residence juvenile angst auntie Tavleen Singh gets
prime place in leading English language journalism, often
representing the most regressive view on a subject, always innocent
of the debate in social sciences about any problem. Last Sunday,
writing in the Indian Express, Tavleen all but argued that the
Indian nation state should have fired more bullets into crowds of
Gujjars headed for Delhi to protest, and blamed the weakness of the
leadership in Delhi.
"If we had a
real leader in
Delhi instead of
a common minimum prime minister, violent Gurjjar mobs would not have
dared block entrances to the city," she wrote (Read this story on
www.WorldSikhNews.com for a link to her original writing).
And she has
questions to ask, and readymade answers to give: "Does anyone have
the right to resort to violence to support a political demand? The
answer is, obviously not."
Talk about
innocence, or is it feigned ignorance that comes easily when you
live in a societal paradigm in which nothing exists south of south
Delhi?
Why doesn't she go tell Uncle Sam that no one has the right to
resort to violence for political demands?
As to why
Gujjars are protesting, here is a glimpse that the media in
India
is not talking about. Any idea how many Gujjars are there in India?
Well, the Indian media is not even talking about this. Gujjars in
India are mainly concentrated in the north, across the states of
Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya
Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
They form around 10 per cent of India’s population.
Gujjars'
agitation has been on television screens and in newspaper headlines
but what is not known is that the Gujjars are covered under OBC
quota of 27.5 per cent but are demanding shift to ST quota which is
only 7.5 per cent. Indian media is not asking why would anyone want
to move from more quota to lesser one?
Here is the
shocking data: Take the figures for quota positions filled in
Central government services as on
January 1, 2005.
While the SC and ST quotas were not completely filled, they were
well above the halfway-mark. As for the 27 per cent OBC quota, on
average only 4-5 per cent of the slot was filled. This means there
is a very large unused OBC quota, which the Gujjars could use to
their advantage as they are already in this category. So, how could
their demanding a share in the smaller 7.5 per cent quota that has
mostly been filled serve their purpose?
The figures
collected by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and
Pensions are revealing. As on
January 1, 2005,
the STs filled 4.3 per cent of a 7.5 per cent quota of jobs in the
‘A’ category’ that includes civil service officers and
superintendents of police. The OBCs managed only 4.7 per cent of the
27 per cent quota, clearly establishing that there were many more
vacancies here if suitable candidates presented themselves.
It is a similar
story even in categories ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D.’ Only in the last two
categories have the OBCs managed to cross even the 5 per cent-mark,
that is more than four-fifths of this quota remain unfilled. In
category ‘B,’ their position dips to 2.3 per cent quota filled, that
is less than one-twelfth.
The history of
this dispute goes back to 1998-99 when the BJP wanted to attract the
Jats to its fold. At that time, it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself
who promised OBC status to Jats. The National Democratic Alliance
government, which began its tenure in 1999, gave the dominant Jat
community OBC status.
Again in 2003,
the BJP used a similar trick to woo the Gujjars. Its Hindutva
ideology may be against caste politics, but on the ground the party
has made a fine art of practising caste politics, while accusing
Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav of doing this in Uttar Pradesh.
The political
stakes were high as the Assembly elections in Rajasthan were being
held just ahead of the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. This time the Gujjars,
who found that the OBC category was crowded by the dominating Jats
and that their share shrank as those entitled to the quota had
increased numerically, were told that the problem would be remedied
by giving them ST status.
With the full
approval of the BJP central leadership, Ms Raje, projected as Chief
Minister, made the rash promise at campaign meetings in 2003. The
party won with a thumping majority, breaking all previous records.
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat had been able to get to the chief
ministerial chair only with the help of independents.
Now, anxious to
pass the blame for the mess to the Centre, the BJP leadership says
the promise to Gujjars was never included in the party manifesto.
The party has also tried to pass off a letter written by Ms. Raje to
the Union Home Minister as sufficient ground for the Centre to “take
action” to begin the process of creating a third category of
reservation for some nomadic communities and Gujjars, giving them
“four to six per cent” quota in jobs.
The BJP knows
full well the suggestion in the letter cannot be implemented as it
would take the overall reservation quota beyond 50 per cent, the
limit clearly set by the Supreme Court. But Arun Jaitley, a former
Law Minister, was not prepared to say that.
Asked what he
would have done had he been Law Minister now, he simply said that as
BJP general secretary he was not dealing with Rajasthan. But party
sources disclosed that his views were the BJP could still make the
best of a bad situation. The party should dump the Gujjars and
consolidate the support of all others. It could be made a Gujjar
versus the rest fight.
Mr. Jaitley
believes that a Narendra Modi could have done it. Of course, it is
only elections that political parties have in mind. If anarchy
spreads, how does it matter? The BJP’s alliance partner in
Maharashtra is talking about throwing non-Maharastrians, especially
Biharis and those from Uttar Pradesh, out of their jobs and the
State; in Rajasthan, let there be a Gujjar-Meena clash (that is
inevitable if Gujjars are given ST status as they will cut into the
Meena quota); even in Karnataka, the Chief Minister-designate
B.S.Yeddyurappa (he has since been sworn in) has let it be known
that he will not allow Tamil Nadu to go ahead with the Hogenakkal
project.
4
June,
2008
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