Tamil Nadu forerunner in offering caste-based quota

An otherwise pro-reservation Tamil Nadu, understandably, has opposed the quota for upper castes, which has been hastily proposed by the ruling BJP and welcomed by most of the Opposition ahead of the Parliamentary election. For once the DMK and AIADMK were on the same page. The two parties have opposed the Constitutional amendment pushed by the ruling BJP to extend reservation to the upper castes on economic grounds. While the rest of the Opposition has only doubted the intention of the Modi regime behind the proposal, the two Dravidian parties from Tamil Nadu have rightly opposed the proposed reservation on legal and ideological grounds on the premise that it was against the fundamentals of social justice espoused and hence it would not stand legal scrutiny.

In fact, AIADMK MP and deputy speaker of Lok Sabha M Thambidurai was more vociferous than DMK in his resistance, even sarcastically suggesting that the quota may not have been necessary if Prime Minister Narendra Modi had deposited the promised Rs 15 lakh in each citizen’s account. Curiously, even the state units of the Congress and CPIM, whose national bosses have welcomed quota for upper castes, have either preferred silence or they have been guarded in their response to the proposed reservation. That said; Tamil Nadu does not differ from rest of the country on reservation just now or in the recent decades even.

Historically, the state has taken the lead in supporting reservation and opposing any attempt to dilute it since the pre-independence days. In fact, the Madras Presidency ruled by the Justice Party had implemented reservation even before the rest of the country thought of it.  The push for the first amendment of the Constitution, which was done to safeguard reservation by the Nehru administration, came from Tamil Nadu where pro-reservation movement led by anti-caste crusader Periyar held sway in the early 1950s.

Even the mighty MGR had burnt his fingers after he had attempted to introduce creamy layer (fixed Rs 9,000 per annum income ceiling cap on reservation) in his regime. MGR had revoked the move in 1980 after biting dust in the subsequent Parliamentary election. Years later, when most of north India bashed his report, Tamil Nadu had celebrated the former Prime Minister V P Singh for dusting the report of B P Mandal based on which Modi has proposed the same 10% reservation struck down by the Supreme Court in 1992. A decade later, the state was on the forefront of reservation movement again in 2006 when the UPA passed the reservation bill for extending reservation to OBCs in central education institutions, the same Bill which dominated the discourse of the conservative right in the north.

A Arulmozhi of Dravidar Kazhagam says, “People of Tamil Nadu have the history, experience and knowledge of social justice. Even MGR had felt the backlash after he introduced creamy layer. He withdrew after suffering defeat in Parliamentary election. Left ruled states did not have Caste list till Mandal report was implemented, but they changed. In last election, Telangana CM KCR said they would follow Periyar. Very recently, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan had subscribed to the Dravidian principle of Periyar.” 

“Economic scale is an elastic scale and hence we in Tamil Nadu oppose it. Even developed countries would view India in shock and amazement for offering reservation to people earning over Rs 2,000 per day, while Rs 30-50 and Rs 70 per day is the cap for SC/ST and OBCs respectively,” she added.

Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam leader ‘Viduthalai’ K Rajendran said, “Social justice is the fundamental of Periyarist movement. In other states, there was no dialogue on the issue. People here know that reservation is not a poverty alleviation programme. BJP has introduced it for election and opposition parties like Congress and CPIM are supporting it for the same reason. Upper castes are a dominant electoral segment in northern states and hence the push there. Here, both parties and people have demonstrated that they stand by social justice because of the victory of Dravidian movement.”

Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai on Wednesday said the ten per cent quota for the general category poor will cause more confusion and result in denial of social justice. Speaking to newspersons here, the senior AIADMK leader said: “Leaders like B R Ambedkar fought against providing reservation based on economic condition. Periyar started the self-respect movement and founded the Dravidar Kazhagam to eliminate casteism from the society and to uphold social justice.” The Deputy Speaker wondered as to how a person with an annual income of below Rs 8 lakh, earning Rs 70,000 per month, can be termed as economically-weak. Stating that the BJP has introduced quota with an eye on the Lok Sabha polls, Thambidurai said though the AIADMK is opposing the move, there is a lack of awareness among MPs from other states, who have voted in favour of the bill. “Parties from other States have fallen into the magical trap of the BJP.”

MDMK leader Vaiko on Wednesday condemned the Central government over its proposal to provide 10 per cent quota for the general category poor, claiming that it is against social justice. “The fathers of Indian constitution and social revolutionaries such as Periyar fought for reservation based on caste to uplift socially-backward people. The bill to provide reservation for economically-weaker sections is against the principles of social justice,” Vaiko said, in a statement. “The Mandal Commission, among many other recommendations, recommended 10 per cent reservation to the economically weaker sections of the society, but the nine-member Supreme Court constitutional bench struck it down,” Vaiko said.  “Those belonging to lower castes are still unable to find jobs due to the historical injustice meted out to them. But, people of higher castes have more than a tenfold representation in government jobs when compared to their population,” he added.