By supporting economic reservation, the Left party reveals its feudal and anti-working class bias

Sunny M Kapikad

Several disturbing questions arise from the smooth passage of the quota bill for ‘the poor’ in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. It’s obviously a political move of BJP ahead of general elections, but the way the bill could muster support from a spectrum of political parties – waging separate battles with ideologies in the name of the working class, poor, oppressed castes and socialism – has left many of us dumbstruck.

In Kerala, the all-out support rendered to the bill by CPM and CPI has become a hot topic of debate. The decision of CPM to support the bill in both houses came barely a week after the party led a historic movement to construct a Women’s Wall from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram and had taken along several organizations having

heritage. Dalit organizations like

were invited by the government to discuss the Renaissance campaign and they had happily agreed to be torchbearers of the campaign.

I was among those who supported the Women’s Wall though there was criticism within dalits against the decision. We don’t regret that decision. The support we had extended was for a particular campaign for reclaiming Renaissance values. We joined hands with the LDF government by keeping our concept of Renaissance without any change. We knew our paths were different, yet, the broad concept of Renaissance had given us some ground to unite. There was no confusion and we were quite clear that our support was only for that single agenda and not for any other policies of the CPM.

I didn’t feel any shock hearing the news about CPM MPs voting in favour of the quota bill for the poor. A few months ago, CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had posed a challenge to BJP on Facebook. That was when the LDF government had taken the decision to implement 10% reservation for the forward castes in devaswom boards under the state government. Kodiyeri had asked BJP whether the central government could implement such a decision. I remember speaking at a public function in

about Kodiyeri’s challenge and then I had said the NDA government would soon accept the challenge.

of the Communist party on reservation has always b e e n marred by ironies. In 1959, EMS Namboodiripad, as chairman of the first administrative reforms committee, had argued for gradually changing the criterion for reservation to an economic one through a step-by-step process. That might have been one of the earliest demands for excluding the creamy layer from reservation, which later become a norm for OBC reservation in the country. The case was no different with Congress either. In 1961, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wrote to all chief ministers, expressing his anguish over how the system of reservation was affecting merit in government services.

The decision of the mainstream Left parties to support the latest quota bill once again proves that they don’t have any concept for social renewal. Like others, they too play vote bank politics. There is an argument that they had alienated the upper caste vote bank for the cause of gender justice in

issue. Their frantic efforts to rope in dalit and backward castes on the issue must have been the counter strategy to compensate the loss of that vote bank.

The quota bill was the real test for the Left. They had a golden chance to translate the tall talk they had made during the Sabarimala issue into fruitful action. Their real constituency was in opposition to Congress-BJP. They should have created a divide and triggered a debate at least. But they failed, and they failed us too. This will ensure the end of the Left in Indian politics. How can those who claim themselves as patrons of the poor and working class support the BJP agenda? How can the apostles of working class join hands with feudal parties to sabotage the Constitutional system that ensures justice for the socially rejected?

Even if we analyse the issue in electoral perspective, there is no

logic

for the Left taking this stand. Being the party that piloted the move, the BJP is all set to grab the support of the majority of beneficiaries of the new quota bill. Of course, Congress will win its share too. But, where will the Left be? I see them as a minor partner of the grand alliance that had worked to re-establish brahminical hegemony by taking a position against dalits, tribals and backward castes of the country. Has the Left ever been the darling of upper castes? For quite some time, powerful brahmins in Bengal had supported CPM. That was all and that has changed now. What the Left had lost was a chance to unite the real working class and lead them. They could have easily done that in the background of Sabarimala issue when they signalled changes in policies.

The recent developments also prove how brahminism will take back control of society. All major political parties are still led by brahmins and upper caste people. Why should there be special concern for the poor among the upper castes? While the government rolls out MGNREGS and a scheme to provide 350 sqft home for the poor among backward castes, the upper caste poor are catered with reserved government jobs. What is wrong if the poor among the upper caste take up MGNREGS jobs, road work or tilling work like the poor elsewhere? This is a stark discrimination and we fail when nobody rises up and points this out.

The quota bill is a clear breach of article 46 of the Constitution too. The directive principles says: “The State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.”

The ‘weaker’ here is ‘socially weaker’ and that is the spirit of the Constitution. Interpreting ‘weaker’ as ‘economically weaker’ is wrong but sadly nobody was there to point out that too.

The only silver lining I see is the dissent in Parliament. The opposition by Muslim League and Owaisi’s AIMIM to the quota bill is an indicator of India’s future politics. Deliberations between Muslim and dalit leaders have already begun and there are more areas of cooperation emerging now. A grand alliance of Muslims, dalits and sociallyweaker communities may be the next big thing in Indian politics.

The writer is a prominent dalit intellectual and activist.