An anti-reservation movement that was claiming to change the language of politics in Madhya Pradesh has suffered a jolt even before the elections, with its leadership splitting.
SAPAKS (Samanya Picchdaa Evam Alpsankhyak Samaj) emerged in 2016 out of a general category government employees’ association. On Monday, Lalit Shastri, who calls himself founder president of SAPAKS, appointed a new working president, Amit Khamparia, in place of P.S. Parihar. He alleged that Mr. Parihar had been working in connivance with SAPAKS patron member Hiralal Trivedi, who was trying to use the movement for political gains in the election. Phone calls made by The Hindu to Mr. Trivedi went unanswered.
Anti-quota platform
Mr. Trivedi, a retired bureaucrat who reportedly calls himself chief patron of the movement, has decided to set up the SAPAKS Party to contest the election on an anti-reservation platform. What is clear amid the contesting claims is SAPAKS has split vertically, and the SAPAKS Party is likely to see opposition from within the movement.
“He is trying to use SAPAKS, a social movement, for his political ends. I have written to the Election Commission not to grant recognition to a political party named after the SAPAKS Society, as SAPAKS is not a political platform,” Mr. Shastri, a former journalist, said.
However, he had himself joined an anti-reservation political party called Anarakshit Samaj Party recently.
Asked if this did not contradict his position that Mr. Trivedi should not politicise SAPAKS, Mr. Shastri said, “I have now quit the party and have decided not to contest the polls. SAPAKS will also not support any political party. It is up to our members to take their own decision on who to vote for.”
The sudden turn of events is being seen as a sign that a potential challenge to the BJP from an upper caste platform — which could have weaned away a section of the upper caste votes of the party and given an advantage to the Congress —has suffered a major setback before it could make its presence felt.
However, some observers feel that the SAPAKS movement was primarily preventing disgruntled upper caste voters from voting for the Congress to defeat the BJP.
The movement has been a critic of the Narendra Modi government’s reversal of the procedures imposed by the Supreme Court for the application of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act through the passage of a Bill in Parliament.
“Madhya Pradesh never had a clear caste politics, unlike Uttar Pradesh or Bihar. SAPAKS was one of the attempts to make caste a factor in the State’s electoral outcome,” a senior Bhopal-based journalist, Ajay Bokil, said.
However, given the infighting, the plank of caste-based mobilisation may have few takers.
