Political parties, some groups seek a review of SC order on EWS quota

Some groups and political parties are seeking a review of the recent Supreme Court order on quotas for EWS

In 2019, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi gave a stirring and emotional speech in Parliament. Speaking on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government’s Bill to introduce the 103rd amendment to the Constitution to facilitate educational and employment quotas for people belonging to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), she said the move would strike at the heart of the raison d’etre of reservation.

“It is not economics. It is not because they (Dalits) were poor that they were denied a place in the system of education, jobs or governance. It was because they were born in a particular caste…when you are Dalit, when you are an OBC, you still face discrimination. You can change your religion. You can change your economic status. You cannot change your caste,” she said.

The government justified the amendment by arguing that the move would benefit people who cannot benefit from reservations already granted to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and OBCs. It defined EWS as households from upper caste groups with an annual family income of less than Rs 800,000 a year, or who own less than five acres of agricultural land. 

The new quota applies to all government jobs and both private and state-funded educational institutions. However, educational institutions run by minority groups were excluded from EWS reservations. The Congress and some other parties supported the government, including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). But many petitions were filed in the Supreme Court against the amendment. The petitioners argued that the EWS reservation violated the basic structure of the Constitution as it reserved seats solely on the basis of economic backwardness, rather than social and educational backwardness.

The basic structure refers to fundamental features of the Constitution that cannot be removed or altered even by a constitutional amendment. The Supreme Court has ruled that EWS reservations did not alter the basic structure of the constitution. “All the poor people have the same caste—they are poor. This reservation will bring unity to the country. My appeal is that all the needy people in the world unite and fight their battle for a better life,” BJP Vice-President Uma Bharti tweeted.

But Tamil Nadu would press for a review of the order. Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M K Stalin said the verdict was a setback in a “century-long crusade for social justice”. “All like-minded parties shall come together as one to fight the social injustice called EWS quota and carry the struggle forward,” he announced.

Politics is officially on

The biggest pushback for the MK Stalin position came from Tamil Nadu itself. “The DMK, which has been on a hate campaign targeting the Brahmin community, was ready to make the other 60-odd communities scapegoats,” said Vanathi Srinivasan, president, All India Mahila Morcha of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She argued that Brahmins were not the sole beneficiaries of the EWS reservation. “In Tamil Nadu, Vellalar, Mudaliar, Chettiar, Reddiar, Naidu, and 60 more communities will come under reservation,” she said.

But it was not just Tamil Nadu. Maharashtra has around 97 castes and social groups in the general or open category, including Marathas, Brahmins, Saraswats, Kayasthas, Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus (CKP), and sub-castes from the Muslim, Christian and Lingayat communities. BJP leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said: “In the wake of the (SC) ruling, we will check the possibility of our argument for Maratha reservation. Until the Maratha reservation is not restored, economically weaker people from the Maratha community will avail the benefits of reservation through the EWS quota.”

The EWS ruling has implications for politics in a host of other states. In Haryana, a law passed in 2019 adopted the principle that job reservations should be for the socially deprived, but for the poor, as well. The M L Khattar-led BJP government thus announced that the Jats and five other castes -- Jat Sikhs, Rors, Bishnois, Tyagis, and Mulla Jat/Muslim Jat -- who were granted reservation as Backward Classes in Haryana would be eligible for the EWS quota until their ongoing court case for Backward Class status is decided.

All this has provoked NGOs working in the Dalit and OBC rights sphere to hit out at the SC ruling. “While there should be a comprehensive programme to alleviate poverty among all people,” said Ashok Bharti, Chairman, National Confederation of Dalit Organisations (NACDOR), “reservation has never been, and can never be, a poverty alleviation programme”.

He said: “Our constitution and traditions accept that massive exclusion of classes and caste has existed in Indian society. And this was not based on poverty. India has been poor for a very, very long time. But the exclusion of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes…this was not based on poverty. In fact, poverty has been revered in India. Therefore, any compensatory programme can never be based on poverty.”

Bharti said EWS reservation will do more harm than good. “This (order) will divide Indian society into two parts. The signs are already there and they will become more pronounced. It will deepen the social divide further between the Savarna (upper caste) and non-Savarna (non-upper castes). The EWS order is talking about the poor. But it is not really talking about the poor of all castes, communities and classes”.

He doesn’t see an immediate fallout of EWS reservation on politics or society. “But over a period of time—50 years or more—it will harm Savarna interests in the long term because slowly the socially deprived sections, which already harbour a grudge against them, will become more vocal,” he says. “This is a case of the upper castes eating their cake and having it too.”