The haves are revolting.

Beyond the dominant public discourse mired in issues of identity, nationalism and personal laws, discontent is brewing across states. From Haryana and Gujarat to Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, the distress has boiled over in mammoth silent marches, or in violent clashes. No, it’s not the poor, who seem have learnt to live with disempowerment, but communities hitherto powerful and well-off who are asking for more.

Academic-politician Yogendra Yadav calls the phenomenon a “misdirected” expression of a deep rural and agrarian crisis. But, curiously, agrarian/economic distress is an aggravating factor especially among these communities that include the Jats in Haryana, Patidars in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, Marathas in Maharashtra and the Kapus in Andhra-Telangana.

This can be seen in consonance with growth rate of farm suicides, which is relatively much higher in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. These five supposedly prosperous states account for almost 65 per cent of farmers’ suicide during 1997-2014, while they contribute 30 per cent share of the national population.

“The Patidars in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, the Marathas in Maharashtra, the Jats in Haryana, the Kapus in Andhra-Telangana have done well over the years. An overwhelming majority of them are peasants who have seen better times and command a social stature,” says Yadav. “Yet, they have closed ranks in different states and taken to running prolonged agitations mostly anchored around demands for reservation because that is the easiest way to mobilise large groups of people in India. I believe this is a misdirected expression of a deep agrarian distress that combines with a prolonged lack of opportunities in education, further socio-economic mobility and employment avenues,” adds Yadav.

Maratha might

A year-long series of 57 silent marches by Marathas numbering in lakhs concluded in Mumbai earlier this month. Unlike the Patidar agitation in neighbouring Gujarat that had a visible face in Hardik Patel, this series of massive rallies neither had a face nor any specific organisation mobilising the crowds, which swelled to 10-30 lakh in each of these marches.

According to veteran commentator Kumar Ketkar, a loose federation of about 50 Maratha organisations from all over the state just gave a call and the crowds, including families with little girls holding their fathers’ hands, marched in lakhs in silent yet seething protests. They made a set of demands, including justice for a girl raped allegedly by Dalit youths about a year back, and scrapping the SC&ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act; but primarily focused on quotas in government jobs and admission in educational institutions.

Although politicians of all hues in the Opposition, especially the tallest Maratha chieftain Sharad Pawar is believed to be lending support, observers say mainstream politicians are, at best, at the outer periphery of this largely spontaneous outburst.

A cursory look at the numerical strength of the agitators in confrontation with the ruling elite can illustrate how precariously the balance of power is currently positioned – Maharashtra has a Brahmin Chief Minister in Devendra Fadnavis. Brahmins constitute less than four per cent of the State’s population.

Marathas are 32 per cent of Maharashtra’s demography, i.e. approximately four crore out of the State’s 12 crore population. “Marathas are not a homogeneous community. There are deep geographical and sociological fissures but they have all come together as an assertion of political power that has its basis in deep social, economic and cultural dimensions,” Ketkar says.

Highly vulnerable

As per a Government affidavit submitted in the Bombay High Court to underline the need for reservation for the community, close to 87 per cent of the Marathas earn less than ₹1,00,000 a year and most Maratha families live below poverty line. Thus, contrary to popular perception, Marathas are economically as insecure and vulnerable as the rest.

Given the diminishing returns in agriculture, the migration avalanche and urbanisation, the middle-class and the landless peasants among the Marathas feel especially disadvantaged compared to communities such as Kunbis, who identify themselves in the same category but enjoy reservation benefits.

According to former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, despite their numerical strength and relative prosperity in some regions, smaller farmers are extremely vulnerable. “The benefits of their numerical strength and land ownership have not trickled down to smaller farmers,” says Chavan. The former CM says another important reason for their backwardness, especially their negligible presence in civil and military service, was the decision in the 1950’s of the erstwhile Chief Minister and also the Education Minister of Bombay State, B G Kher, of enforcing primary and secondary school students to learn in the mother tongue and restricting English teaching in local schools.

As a result, few students could crack competitive exams, which were in English. This decision impacted two generations in Maharashtra with no major representatives in civil services and armed forces.

Politicians, especially those in the Opposition, believe a court directive on the Maratha plea for reservation could lead to violent caste conflicts and factional politics. Chavan blames the present BJP-Shiv Sena Government for not dealing with the issue with the sensitivity it urgently requires. He says that a committee was established by him under the leaderships of former Chief Minister Narayan Rane to look into the demands of Marathas for reservations and provide reservations to the community.

“The BJP-SS government has deliberately not acted on that decision because, in their hearts, they did not want to give reservations. In a way, the recent Maratha Morchas have been organised to enforce that decision,” he says.

The ruling combine is on the defensive. Madhav Bhandari of the BJP cited the cap of 50 per cent on reservation as a hurdle in giving the Marathas their due in the quota pie.

“Providing additional reservations for Marathas would be a long drawn process. Senior Congress leader, the late Annasaheb Patil first came up with the idea of Maratha reservations in 1981, but it took them 30 years to act on those demands. We have at least started the process of socially empowering the Maratha youths by providing additional scholarships and hostels to the students,” he says.

Shiv Sena leader and member of Maharashtra Legislative Council Dr Neelam Gorhe adds that Maratha reservations can proceed on the lines of Tamil Nadu where the cap of 50 per cent has long been crossed.

“In the current situation, new ways should be found to incorporate the Marathas based on their economic backwardness, but the OBC reservations should remain untouched. As far enhancing the constitutional cap on reservations is concerned, steps should be taken by the State to take up the matter in the Parliament,” she says.

Uneasy clam

For the moment, a temporary calm prevails not just in Maharashtra but also in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, which witnessed violent clashes between farmers and the police this summer. The Jats in Haryana and the Kapus are silent too. But this, points out Jitender Hooda, a farmer leader from western Uttar Pradesh bordering Haryana, is because of the current sowing season. “The farmer has been busy. Monsoon is sowing season. But we will be back,” Hooda says.

Indeed, besides general agricultural distress, it is the lack of any other avenue despite the chorus of Make in India and Skill India that has enraged these communities. The present calm is only the lull before yet another storm hits the streets.

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