How do we taste milk in this townwheretrees are planted of venom?Enemies invite nothing but enmityHow can we share a drink of friendship?....I see the clash of prisonerstrained in schools of warfareThey die, how am I to survive here?— How, by Bhau Panchbhai, translated byCharudatta Bhagwat

The state of Maharashtra is witnessing a churn in its polity and society, which are tangled in a polarising debate over demands for quotas rooted in caste conflict.

While Marathas are on the streets seeking reservations, the pastoral Dhangar community is protesting for inclusion in the scheduled tribes (ST), rather than their current classification as nomadic tribes (NT-C). Diverse social groups like Wadars, Muslims, Halba Koshti, Kolis, Banjaras, Lingayats and Matangs are seeking similar benefits, or a change the quota category for enhanced advantages in the affirmative action process.

Quota Conundrum

Marathas are seeking reservations in jobs and education. While some groups insist on a separate quota to take reservations beyond the existing 52 per cent, others want Marathas to be included in the other backward classes (OBCs) for political reservations in local bodies and gain eligibility for central government jobs. This is being resisted by the existing OBCs who fear being swamped by the numerically stronger Marathas.

Ironically, in the early 1980s, the Maratha Mahasangh under Annasaheb Patil protested against reservations and demanded a system based on economic criteria. This was after the BP Mandal Commission submitted its recommendations. However, Maratha leaders gradually came around to seeking caste-based quotas.

In 2014, the then Congress-NCP government approved quotas in jobs and education for Marathas (16%) and Muslims (5%) and promulgated ordinances, taking reservations to 73% from the previous 52%. However, the Bombay High Court (HC) stayed the Maratha quota and reservations in jobs for Muslims.

The incumbent Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government approved a legislation for Maratha quotas, but overlooked Muslims. The case is now sub-judice and the State Backward Classes Commission is poring over the legalese.In 2016, Marathas organised silent 'Maratha Kranti Morchas' to demand quotas and prevent misuse of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. In July this year, the protests were relaunched aggressively from Tuljapur, and eventually escalated to violence.

Fadnavis' statement that some groups wanted to create an untoward situation on Ashadi Ekadashi (July 23) at Pandharpur, and the suicide of agitator Kakasaheb Shinde who jumped off a bridge in Aurangabad the same day further flamed the violence. So far, around eight people have committed suicide or been killed, and public and private property damaged in the protests.

The Maratha-Kunbi caste cluster is estimated at around 31.5% of the state's population. Kunbis (tillers), who have significant numbers in Konkan and Vidarbha, are already covered under the OBC category.

Decline In Farm Sector, Jobs

"Not just Marathas, but farming castes like Patels and Jats in other states are also seeking quotas. This is because the younger generation wants to move out of farming. Integration of this agrarian economy with a high-cost economy has led to a rise in the standard of living, and education has become unaffordable due to low returns from agriculture. The rise in salaries of government servants under the successive pay commissions is geometric, while the increase in farm incomes is arithmetic, widening the gap," noted farmer leader Vijay Jawandhia. This led to an aspiration for government jobs, which have more security.

Jawandhia suggested remedies like increasing subsidies, income guarantee and economic support for farmers. Like Marathas, a significant section of the Dhangar community is also into farming.

Pravin Gaikwad of the Sambhaji Brigade noted that advent of liberalisation and privatisation policies in the 1990s, compounded by lack of professional management, affected cooperatives across sectors like sugar, milk and textiles. "Disinvestment in public undertakings and decline in government jobs due to reasons like outsourcing led to a piquant situation. While the OBCs," — given quotas after the implementation of the Mandal Commission by VP Singh — "were benefiting, opportunities for those in the open category were shrinking, leading to increasing disaffection," he said.

This, coupled with political quotas for OBCs in local power structures, led to the rise of these backward classes, like the formidable combination of Malis, Dhangars and Vanjaris (MADHAV), and shook the foundations of the Maratha lobby. This accentuated competition between Marathas and OBCs.

"The other problem is the inability of our education system to skill students, which makes them unable to hold their own in competition... Those from reserved categories applying for jobs in the open category shrink the pie for non-reserved groups," said Gaikwad.

"The unrest rose after government schemes for Marathas failed to translate into action on the ground. Youngsters could not pay fees or secure admissions to professional courses. The government's decision to fill 72,000 posts when the Maratha quota was sub-judice led to fears of Maratha youth losing out and fired up the mobs," a community leader said. He said today's politicians had surpassed the British in the divide-and-rule policy.

Similarly, a shrinking share of government jobs, lack of private sector employment or its unsteady nature, and unaffordable professional education has left other social groups, including those with quotas, teetering on the edge.

Disintegrating Society

A leader, who participated in the Maratha quota stir, noted that "lack of national character" was accentuating social cleavages and fuelling mutual hatred.

"Is this polarisation or disintegration? Castes are coalescing into small tufts in the larger social fabric and are strengthening this social system instead of smashing it," said social activist and former MLA Vivek Pandit, who is known for his work among tribals.

"The crux of the unrest is scarcity of educational and employment opportunities and commercialisation of education. The government's spread in the education sector is limited and private institutions are commercialised. The government wants to build bullet trains but it is not investing in sozcial infrastructure," he said.

Pandit noted that socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia had stressed on micro and small industries to generate employment. But instead, he said, jobs were being created in the informal sector which were exploitative and contractual. "The anger is due to the widening economic and educational gap. Reservations will be akin to distributing poverty," he said.

What sets the new round of protests apart is the brood of aggressive youths using social media for mass mobilisation. Frustrated with mainstream politicians, caste and religious groups use digital media as a force-multiplier, reaching out to their core and auxiliary constituencies almost instantly.

Political Gamesmanship

The political class has marketed reservations as a panacea for all problems. "This is all about politicians stoking fires. Quotas for Marathas and Muslims (on religious grounds) are unconstitutional," noted Shabbir Ahmed Ansari of the influential All India Muslim OBC Organisation. He said that Dhangars' reservation demand dated back to the tenure of the Progressive Democratic Front government in 1978. Ansari admitted that the decline in farm incomes, lack of job and income security in the private and unorganised sectors was also fuelling the anger.

Cultural Subjugation

"These reservation protests are the tip of the iceberg. As aspirations rise, people try to search for markers of identity. The mass media that expanded post-globalisation chose to project the happy lives of the middle-class and not the lived reality of the masses. These people then questioned their standing in the larger scheme of things as their lives and images were not reflected anywhere. Lack of dignity of labour, like the kind Mahatma Gandhi preached, led to the children of farmers wanting to quit agriculture, and not even being able to find brides," explained author- activist Sanjay Sonwani.

Fallacy Of Economic Quota

Though political parties like the Shiv Sena and MNS and leaders like Shalinitai Patil seek economic criteria-based quotas, experts call this a fallacy. For one, caste is a major marker of identity and discrimination in India. Second, economic criteria can easily be manipulated on paper, thus helping the ineligible reap the benefits. Reservations are meant to correct historic wrongs and overcome social and educational backwardness. They are not garibi hatao programmes.

Then premier PV Narasimha Rao had granted 10% quotas on economic criteria in 1991, but it was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1992. The SC also imposed a cap of 50% on SC, ST and OBC reservations.

Race To The Bottom

The quota demand by Marathas (warriors), Dhangars and other groups entails a regression in the caste pyramid to gain reservation benefits, and turns Sanskritisation on its head. The theory, propounded by sociologist MN Srinivas, denotes the process by which lower castes seek upward mobility.

"This is due to uncontrolled capitalism that regulates the government. The government is retreating across sectors and this space is being occupied by capitalists. The economic foundations of Marathas, who were once prosperous, have been shaken, prompting them to swallow their pride and seek quotas," said activist and Sahitya Akademi awardee Laxman Mane, who is known for his epoch-making autobiography, Upara (Outsider), that details the exploitation and lives of nomadic tribes.

Mane, a former legislator, also blamed established Maratha leaders for exploiting the community by serving "sethjis and bhatjis" (capitalist and priestly classes) by withdrawing subsidies for farmers despite hailing from the same class.

Anger Aimed At 'The Other'

Fadnavis' supporters claim that Maratha protests are the handiwork of elements from the community who resent a non-Maratha leading the state. (Fadnavis is a Brahmin.) They point out how non-Maratha chief ministers like Abdul Rehman Antulay and Manohar Joshi were forced to quit due to Maratha mobilisation.

For its part, the BJP is hoping for non-Marathas, especially OBCs, consolidating in its favour.

While those mooting Maratha quotas point to diminishing returns from agriculture, fragmented landholdings and lack of educational opportunities to strengthen their case, those opposing it also make a compelling argument.

Marathas have dominated the state's political sphere and account for a majority of chief ministers and legislators till date, as well as for a major share of landholdings. Moreover, Marathas are not socially backward, nor did they face social stigma, being a dominant, warrior caste. Maratha politicians also run educational institutions notorious for making education unaffordable.

Three backward classes commissions, headed by Justices RM Bapat, BP Saraf and Khatri, have rejected demands that Marathas be classified as backward.

While groups like Dhangars claim to be tribals and seek inclusion in the ST category, Adivasi leaders oppose their claim citing lacunae in the argument. They point to how this will deprive tribals, who are among the most exploited sections of society.

Failure Of Social Movements

Maharashtra is hailed as the cradle of Indian renaissance, having produced social reformers like Mahatma Jotiba Phule, Dr BR Ambedkar, Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj, RD Karve and Gopal Ganesh Agarkar. But it failed to progress towards a society purged of caste and class consciousness, instead choosing to accentuate these fault lines, admitted senior RPI leader Avinash Mahatekar. "They have been moving towards violence, including forms of mob violence," he added.

"These movements have the Brahmin community as the epicentre of hate," noted Sonwani, adding that an overblown depiction of the caste system led to Brahmin versus non-Brahmin and Maratha versus non-Maratha struggles. Veterans of mass movements in the previous decades note that today, these peoples' struggles, which channelised the anger and aspirations of the youth, have all but fizzled out.

Radical Solutions

Sonwani sought a national caste census combined with a socio-anthropological study to determine the precise percentage of castes in the population. "Today, there is no precise legal definition of backwardness," he explained, adding that there should be a limit on the extent to which a generation of a family from a reserved category could avail quota benefits, because without this ceiling, there's now a "class of haves" among the SCs, STs and OBCs.

Origin Story

1902: Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur provides reservations in his princely state of Kolhapur for backward classes. This was the first attempt at affirmative action in India

1942: Then Bombay government declares 228 communities as intermediate and backward classes

1955: Backward Classes Commission under Kaka Kalelkar submits its report, identifies 2,399 backward communities, but report not implemented

1965: Maharashtra introduces 10% quota for other backward classes and 4% for nomadic and denotified tribes

1980: BP Mandal Commission set up by Janata Party government in 1979 submits report, does not accept the claim of Marathas, identifies 3,743 backward classes. Report was implemented by the VP Singh government