NEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD: The Bharatiya Janata Party is confident of reaping the political benefits of providing 10% quota to the economically weaker sections (EWS) of the General Category. BJP strategists believe that EWS reservation will help the party win over at least three dominant sections—Patidars or Patels in Gujarat, Marathas in Maharashtra and Jats in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh—who have led massive agitations for reservation under the OBC quota.
The BJP is eyeing to woo back these communities as, during the last five years, agitation demanding reservation by these three segments has caused an uncomfortable situation for BJP-led governments. Notably, all these states—Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana—are ruled by the BJP. In Gujarat, the BJP had faced the ire of the Patidars in the 2017 Assembly elections and fell short of 100 seats. A massive agitation led by Patidar leader Hardik Patel was a key cause behind the BJP’s reduced strength in the state.
These four states together have 164 Lok Sabha constituencies and are crucial to the BJP’s prospects in the 2019 general elections. Without the support of these dominant communities, the BJP will face a tough time repeating its 2014 performance in these states. In the 2014 elections, the BJP won 73 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP, 25 out of 26 in Gujarat, while the BJP-Shiv Sena combine won 34 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra.
In Gujarat, BJP leaders as well as people from the Patidar community believe that the EWS reservation will benefit them in the state as their demand for reservation under OBC quota was not going to be met anytime soon. “This is a win-win situation for the youths from our community. If we are not getting reservation in the OBC quota, the new legislation will certainly help us. Many youths of the Patidar community can hope for some benefits in government jobs and while seeking admissions in educational institutions,” said Hirak Patel, a Gujarati youth from the Patidar community.
Another Gujarati youth, hailing the Modi government’s move, said: “We are happy with the decision. If the government succeeds in implementing reservation on economic grounds, this will surely be a great achievement. A large number of students will benefit from this.”
Some others, however, raised doubts if the new legislation would actually benefit them as they feared that the court might strike it down. “This happened in 2016 too. The Gujarat government’s decision for reservation to EWS category was quashed by the High Court,” said Pranav Patel who claimed to have joined the agitation led by Hardik Patel seeking reservation.
Meanwhile, Hardik Patel himself is sceptical of the benefits of EWS reservation. Patel said he would welcome it if the decision was implemented constitutionally and without delay and hoped that it would not turn out to be a “lollipop” like the one offered by the Anandiben Patel government in Gujarat earlier. “We are neither accepting nor rejecting the decision at this stage. The decision is welcome if it is implemented successfully and without delay,” he said.
BJP leaders, on the other hand, are confident that the new legislation would address the demands of Patels, Marathas and Jats to a great extent. “There is a genuine concern among financially weak people belonging to the upper castes. They had started believing that the Modi government was concerned only for the socially weaker sections,” a BJP MP said.