Will BJP benefit from Maratha, general reservation?

NAGPUR: BJP has provided reservation to the poor among Marathas and open category with an eye on elections. However, opinion is divided whether it will reap electoral benefit from these decisions. On the other hand, it may face ire of Dhangar community for not granting them Scheduled Tribes (ST) status in spite of promising the same since 2013.

One of the concerns is that reservations beyond 50% ceiling will not stand in court. Recently Jabalpur High Court struck down Madhya Pradesh government’s decision to increase reservation for Other Backward Castes (OBCs) from 14% to 27%.

Raje Mudhoji Bhonsale, who was on the forefront of demanding 16% reservation for Marathas, feels BJP will benefit somewhat by providing reservation to the community. “May be 60% of Marathas will vote for BJP while 40% won’t. It may also happen this ratio becomes 50:50. The reservation decision has not been struck down by Bombay High Court till now. BJP government has done something for the community for sure,” he said.

However, Dilip Khodke, district president of Maratha Seva Sangh, termed the Maratha reservation as an eyewash. “Until Marathas are provided reservation under OBC category, the community won’t benefit. The separate category created for them won’t stand judicial scrutiny. Marathas have realized that the decision was taken by this government with an eye on their votes just like the Congress-NCP government,” he told TOI.

Rampratap Shukla, city president of Uttar Bharatiya Sabha, claimed 10% reservation for general category won’t help BJP much in the coming elections. “It won’t make much difference but BJP will get some benefit. Many poor among general category, who were pro-BJP but had become disillusioned with BJP have come back due to the decision. However, others won’t vote for BJP because of reservations,” he said.

BJP leader Jaiprakash Gupta, whose ancestors hail from north India, countered him. “This decision has benefitted not only upper caste Hindus but Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Jains as well. They are bound to vote for the party. Many Muslim and Christian youths want to work for BJP on their own. Besides, in Nagpur Nitin Gadkari’s development agenda is an added advantage,” he said.

Muslim leader Ashfaque Ali felt the community won’t vote for BJP because of 10% reservation. “Only upper caste Hindus will benefit from it because BJP will ensure Muslims don’t get any benefit. All the benefits for Muslims are cornered by those who bow their head at RSS headquarters. Such Muslim leaders are very unpopular in the community,” he said.

Vikas Mahatme, BJP Rajya Sabha MP, who is a Dhangar, admitted the community was angry with BJP for not granting it ST status. He, however, felt that Dhangars still had not lost faith in the party.

“Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has submitted its report to state government, which has constituted a cabinet sub-committee for taking an action on it. Otherwise also, while Dhangars have not been provided reservations, many special schemes have been launched for them. Solapur University has been named after Dhangar queen Ahilyabai Holkar,” said Mahatme.

The MP said that Dhangars won’t vote for Congress and NCP because these two parties had done nothing for the community. “Nobody had heard about Dhangar reservation before 2013. The Congress-NCP government made no efforts to provide us ST status. It didn’t even have any intention to do so,” he added.

Another Dhangar leader, however, said there was anger against BJP and the community would vote depending on the merit of the candidate and not en masse against the saffron party.