In an election year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka has been busy slicing up the reservation pie, causing much confusion and raising many concerns, about both their viability and base in the principles of social justice.
Side stepping the social and educational backwardness criteria for which data is currently not available, the government, which is facing anti-incumbency and allegations of corruption, has tried to mollify two powerful communities — Vokkaligas and Veerashaiva-Lingayats — by creating categories of 2C and 2D in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) block, respectively. The two communities are currently in 3A and 3B, and have been demanding reclassification and a hike in quotas. The government has claimed that this additional quota will be carved out of the 10% economically weaker section (EWS) pool, which is expected to throw up some legal complications.
The creation of 2D for Veerashaiva-Lingayats — the traditional BJP voters — was essentially done to placate Panchamasalis, the numerically-strong Lingayat subcaste in North Karnataka, which for years has sought change of category from the current 3B (4% quota) to category 2A (15% quota). Surprisingly, category 2C for Vokkaligas, who have demanded 12% reservation based on their population, has been created even before the community launched a serious agitation. It is seen as the BJP’s attempt to make inroads in the Vokkaliga-dominated Old Mysore region, where it is weak.
Besides these, there are demands coming from many relatively better off communities in Karnataka either for a change in category or higher reservation, citing population size or economic criterion, and not socio-educational backwardness or untouchability among other factors considered for caste-based reservation. Prominent leaders are also actively pushing to seek reservation for the communities that they belong to, leaving by the wayside smaller communities without a powerful voice and political representation.
For instance, currently under 2A category, Kuruba — a numerically bigger and electorally important caste among backward classes — is seeking an ST tag while Marathas, currently in 3B category, are asking for a 2A tag.
The “special treatment” to the two politically well-represented and land-owning communities of Vokkaligas and Veerashaiva-Lingayats is being seen as “discriminatory”, as hundreds of castes and sub-castes in other backward classes languish without proper representation. Several micro castes in backward classes in the State have not benefited from reservation. It is also argued that the new categories — in the absence of any reliable data — could be questioned in a court.
In Karnataka, the hike in quota for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in October last year has breached the Supreme Court-set ceiling for reservation. The total matrix now stands at 56%, including 32% for backward classes, 17% for SCs and 7% for STs.
Incidentally, the socio-economic survey or the caste census — details of which have not been made public — conducted by the Karnataka Permanent Backward Classes Commission is in the cold storage since 2017. The government decision also comes at a time when the Commission has prepared a report on the demand for change of categories or inclusion of 25 smaller communities, a decision related to which is yet to be taken.
While the BJP government has claimed credit for implementing the long-pending demand of SCs and STs for hike in quota, based on the Justice H. Nagmohan Das Commission report, it can be challenged in court unless included in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution. In another development, the Government has also set up a Cabinet sub-committee to study the possibility of providing internal reservation among SCs based on the 2012 report of the Justice A.J. Sadashiva Commission.
Ahead of elections, while the BJP has tried to appease various communities, it may have also tied itself in knots on some fronts. For instance, while Vokkaligas and Panchamasalis are viewing the new classification with caution, the SC “right” groups are unhappy with the move towards internal reservation. Whether these moves will stand the test of law is a big question yet to be addressed in a State that is already in election mode.
