The proposal of the Cabinet to implement 10% reservation for economically weaker sections (EWS) in the State has triggered political and communal debates with Muslim organisations, irrespective of their ideological moorings, opposing the new quota policy.
Almost all Muslim denominations, including the two rivals Sunni groups led by Syed Jifri Muthukoya Thangal and Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobaker Musliyar, are on the same page. Incidentally, the organisations are traditionally either backed or favoured by the Congress-led United Democratic Front and the CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front.
Also the Welfare Party of India affiliated to the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Social Democratic Party of India, the political outfit of the Popular Front of India, are fiercely opposed to earmarking reservation for the EWS belonging to the forward Hindu and the Christian communities.
Assembly elections
How the political developments over the reservation proposal echo in the Assembly polls next year is now in the realm of speculation. Interestingly, even partners within the two coalitions have different opinions on the issue.
At the same time, the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam says it will move the Supreme Court against the 10% reservation in education and employment for the EWS among forward communities.
Its general secretary Vellappally Natesan, while terming the proposal as a move with an eye on the Assembly elections, however, declared that his organisation will not join hands with the Muslim organisations for any protest for their communal stances on various issues.
However, the Nair Service Society (NSS) called for rectifying the anomalies in the new reservation policy of the State government.
The reservation norms for the EWS candidates should be at par with the norms provided for other backward classes and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and also implement them with retrospective effect from January 2019, it said.
At the Centre
Interestingly, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre, which introduced 10% reservation for EWS, did not make such reservations mandatory in State-run educational institutions or government jobs. But some States have decided to implement the decision.
