Will the proposed 10% quota in employment and education for the general category candidates who belong to the economically weaker sections lead to the realignment of socio-political forces in the State?
Incensed at the move, the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam has decided to forge an alliance of all those who are opposed to the proposal. The Ezhava community, which owes it allegiance to the SNDP Yogam, enjoys the largest share of caste-based reservation in Kerala
The Ezhava community-backed Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Kerala, is yet to make up its mind over the proposal. But a faction of the Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha (KPMS), another NDA partner, wanted the decision to be reviewed. The KPMS is an organisation of members of the Pulaya community, a Scheduled Caste.
Forward caste community organisations such as the Nair Service Society, which has found a common ground with the Sangh Parivar on the Sabarimala issue, have welcomed economic reservation. The SNDP Yogam will convene meetings of office-bearers in all districts to expose the ‘political game plan’ of the Centre, said Vellappally Natesan, general secretary of the Yogam.
The first meeting in the series would be held at Alappuzha on January 10.
The Yogam would join hands with the other communities that enjoyed the benefits of caste-based reservation.
The BJP government, which had never considered the issue of reservation earlier, was attempting to use it as a political tool during the fag end of its term, he said.
No study was carried out to assess the socio-economic status of the forward caste communities before announcing the reservation. The government did not even release the socio-economic and caste census data of 2011, which would have given an indication on the social status of these communities, he said.
SNDP to challenge
About the 10% reservation proposed by the LDF government for upper caste Hindus in jobs in Devaswom boards, Mr. Natesan said the Yogam would legally challenge it once the government issued the orders. Thushar Vellappally, son of Mr. Natesan and the president of the BDJS, refused to respond as he felt there was some confusion in the proposal.
“Its not clear whether the proposed economic reservation is for the poor in all the communities or confined to upper caste communities,” he said.
N.K. Neelakandan, president of the KPMS faction aligned with the BJP, said the move would worsen the condition of the communities enjoying the benefits of reservation due to social, educational, and economic backwardness.
The Left-leaning KPMS faction led by Punnala Sreekumar said the move would undermine the concept of reservation. The Centre was trying to introduce economic reservation at a time when reservation had to be extended to the private sector, he said.
