Bhagwat's Advice Merits Debate

RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat’s suggestion that an apolitical committee could be formed to review the reservation policy has been blown out of proportion by the likes of Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad Yadav. His advice should be seen in the context of reservations people have about the existing quota policy, which has led to a situation where even a prosperous community like the Patidars in Gujarat insists on having state crutches. Bhagwat did not say, let alone demand, that the reservation for government jobs and seats in educational institutions for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and educationally and socially backward classes, popularly known as the Other Backward Classes, should be scrapped. Few can question him when he says that a committee of experts should review the policy.
Several political parties favour quota for the poor, irrespective of caste or creed, though they do not openly speak against caste-based reservation for obvious reasons. Even a party like the Congress has changed its stance. Now, it also supports reservation for the poor. The Supreme Court has already put a cap on reservation — it should not exceed 50 per cent. There are some parties like the RJD, JD (U) and the Samajwadi Party, which want the present 27 per cent quota for OBCs to continue, despite the fact that a sizeable number of the beneficiaries have long since ceased to be backward.
When the founding fathers of the Constitution thought of reservation to provide a level-playing field to those who had been suffering social inequities for centuries, they could not have foreseen that it would be used by political parties to form vote-banks. Though reservation was thought of as a stop-gap arrangement, politicians have been vying with one another to extend it for 10 years every time it was to end. Some of them consider the policy unalterable as the law of motion. This does not show the political class in a good light. The RSS chief’s suggestion should be taken in the right spirit and the parties, instead of chest-thumping and getting into a preaching and slanging match, would be well advised to debate the pros and cons of the quota policy objectively. It’s essential if India, set to be the youngest country, is to achieve inclusive growth.