Volume 7, No. 6, July-August, 2006

The Constitution of India had to accept reservation for the socio-economically unprivileged castes and tribes in India. In clauses 340, 341 and 342 of the Constitution the question of reservation was incorporat-ed for the SCs, STc and OBCs. Even after half a century reservations have been ignored or half-heartedly accepted. Commi-ssions after Commissions were set up but the net result was not impressive. In fact even for the dalit reservation quota (except for the Class IV sweeper category) are to quite an extent not filled up. Only when the Mandal Commission Report was tabled and a stormy wind passed throughout India in 1991 the question of caste-based depriva-tion, the question of 27% reservation in the central government services for the OBCs as well as upper caste frenzy against reservation on a wide scale brought forth the pertinent question of OBC reservation to centre stage. The current country wide debate and upper caste hideous move to banish reservation policy have come up in the wake of the Arjun Singh announcement to reserve 27% seats for the OBCs in all educational institution under the purview of the central government. It should be made clear here that the Constitutional provisions of reservation are only a partial acknowledgement of the wide inequalities based on the caste system and its perennially depriving role. Yet the minimal reservation of 27% in central government institutions has been intolerable to the upper castes and their mentors. The prominent industrialists of the country have gone hammer and tongs against the current move. Infosys Chairman Mr. N R Narayana Murthy (he is also chairman of the governing body of the IIM, Ahmedabad), an anti reservationist sermonised "We should concentrate more on primary education and provide students with more nutrition, books and other facilities" [Statesman 20 May’06]. Some wise anti reservationists claim "that reservation is partly responsible for the decline in efficiency among government and public sector staff" [ibid].

The main aim of the current anti-reservation protest is to maintain the hegemony of the upper castes in professionally higher posts, medical, engineering streams and the centres of culture. So long in the service sector reservation in a very limited way was prevalent for the OBCs courtesy Mandal Commission recommendation, and now this privilege is extended to the educational sector by way of 93rd constitutional amend-ment. It should be known that even if the OBC people’s percentage crosses 52% the reservation can not be considered beyond 50% mark. And the Supreme Court verdict fixed OBC reservation at 27%. The upper castes are afraid that if reservation is allowed to some extent it will make a dent into the centres of their hegemony and so they prefer competition limited within the upper castes. The weak competitors in the socially and also economically unprivileged groups can never match minus reservation the socio-economically powerful upper caste people enjoying the top all the socio-cultural benefits. The upper castes have a social and educational environment due to centuries of elite education. Besides, they have deep cultural links with those in authority who favour them for the limited jobs and educational seats. From the very start there is no level playing field between the upper castes and the OBC/SC/STs even if equal in economic levels.

The power of the upper castes is all too evident. The media coverage through a number of visuals, hours given over mainly anti-reservation view points and frequent high-light of anti-reservation stirs make a telling commentary on the upper casteist bias. The news paper coverage, editorials, letters to the editors, etc. are overwhelming-ly anti-reservation. It is crystal clear how upper caste Brahministic mindset works so efficiently in the main cities and institutions to resist the very minimal move in favour of the OBCs. This is not surprising as the media is packed with upper caste elite. For example, amongst the 315 senior journalists (English and hindi) of Delhi not one was from the SCs and STs and 71% were from the Hindu upper castes.

Those who clamour for the economic criteria, like the CPI(M), do not take into account the harsh fact that a poor Dalit or low caste and a poor Brahmin or the upper caste do not stand on the same position vis-à-vis opportunities and life chances. By virtue of birth ascribed higher status of a Brahmin or an upper caste person in our class-caste based society with strong correlation of caste and class the upper caste person shall be endowed with a great many advantages to easily outsmart a poor Dalit. The special advantages are born out of the power of the jati-varna system itself.

It should be kept in mind that the Mandal Commission recommendations or the present decision on reservation is basi-cally Varna and Jati based affirmative action. Such reservations can not eliminate poverty, nor can they ameliorate the economic condition of the poor as such, they are only meant to destroy the monopoly reservation of the upper castes in services and educa-tional fields and to bring about some economic change of a small section. This endeavour to implement the policy of the reservation is a part and parcel of the demo-cratic movement. The struggle for reserva-tion has also brought to the forefront the very question of integrating class and caste questions in Indian society. For a long time the Revisionists in India has simply ignored the caste question as something of the superstructure which will automatic-ally vanish in the process of economic development. They completely failed to realize that this caste system is being maintained by the ruling/exploiting classes for perpetuating their ruthless exploitation and suppression, and that this is one of the vital issues of the revolutionary class struggle. The reservation debate has brought to the fore the question of caste, the need for anti-caste struggle as part of the class struggle.

Basically the question of the reservations to the higher institutes of learning is an issue of the middle classes. It is irrelevant to the poor, whether from the oppressed castes or the higher castes as they can never even dream of such education due to their economic plight. So all talk of economic criteria is a hoax and a cunning brahminical ploy to maintain the upper-caste supremacy in the institutes of higher learning.

The upper caste students, teachers and casteists of the top layer of Jati-Varna sys-tem now raise similar hue and cry that ineffi-cient people of the OBCs (and obviously of the SCs and STs) would lower the educational standards, professional skills. They also argue that all the OBCs, STs and even the SCs – about the last two, the voice is not so vocal though – are not always deprived too. So a rich section of the OBCs would grab the opportunities by way of reservation facilities. It is implied that the economically better placed of the OBCs will be the gainers and can continue with their studies in the above mentioned institutions. But it will make those OBC students to make inroads into the domain so long well-preserved by mainly upper castes.

It is notable that the upper casteists seldom openly vent out their anger against the SCs and STs over reservation for the Class IV posts. That is anyhow the reserve of the SCs. What they fear is them making inroads into their well fortified domain. At the time when higher education has come into sharp focus following the decision on OBC reservation, a Parliamentary Standing Committee has found that the participation of the SCs and STs in higher education is "abysmally low" compared to their percentage in the population. The Parliamentary Committee on Human Resources Development said the enrolment of the SCs in higher education ranged from 8.6% in 1990-91 to 11.3% in 2002-03 while that of the STs was from 2.1% to 3.6% [Hindu, May 28’06].

Even if a microscopic percentage of the SCs and STs make their way into higher education, services, etc. they receive all types of obstruction and become a butt of joke for the inherent Brahministic mindset of the upper caste students and colleagues. If one studies the arguments of the upper casteists people in regard to the current debate on reservations for the OBCs one should obviously conclude that the same Brahministic logic can be stretched to dismiss reservations of the SCs and the STs. Sooner or later along with the continu-ing atrocities on the Dalits by the upper caste landlords and their goons a pressure tactics shall be pursued to abolish the reservations for the SCs and the STs. Their arguments are basically against reservations per se.

The question of OBC reservation in the IITs, IIMs and central universities has once again stirred up a hornets’ nest with the Brahministic elitist class sounding the alarm on declining merits. The colonial white Britishers also expressed similar opinion on the freedom loving colonized Indians as unfit to rule for efficiency in administration. India has had enough of such meritocracy over half a century since the Transfer of Power with upper caste administrators, doctors, engineers, etc. in existing system with problems galore. Corruption, nepotism, fraud and vulgar servility to the imperialists is the general trend. However, a small num-ber of them has shown honesty and skill in the respective fields. What is at issue or what the upper caste elite makes uproarious noise about is how come the other caste-class of Indian society can make a claim of attaining merit. Over centuries Manuvad taught us that knowledge and power is the preserve of the Dwija. For so long the Dwija people have been able to control the admin-istration, seats of learning, land, capital and what not. Those people have preached the most undemocratic Brahministic definition on knowledge and merit. And with such understanding this Manuvad ordained that Sudras (the present OBCs) and Dalits are meant for manual labour from tilling the soil, to weaving to carpentry to burning of corpses to carrying night soil. Reservation does the work to break in a small way the so-called birth ascribed skills of the oppre-ssors and brings about some mobility in profession. It can neither eradicate casteism nor poverty. It is not its purpose. And here the Brahminisitic elite section howls with the Manuvadi logic for fear of losing the monopoly in education or services. Merit is not gene based and the Dwija blood alone does not afford to acquire merit in education and such other fields. Examples are galore to dismiss such logic. An Ambedkar or a Meghnath Saha or such tall personalities are not exceptions. However, we here only touch upon the merit in the professions beyond manual labour. Every profession, manual and non-manual demands some skill or knowledge. Those who are crying for free competition among all categories of castes for the entry into higher studies and also services do know it pretty well that with the schooling in ordinary educational institutions (the rich upper castes generally manage to enroll their wards in special institutions to build up a professionally sound career) the SCs, STs and OBCs in general lose out in open competition. Their much-hyped slogans like "Reservation the Menace", "Reserva-tion for the Death of Merit", etc. are ploys of the followers of Manuvad masquerading as innocent democracy-loving do-gooders of our society. They can not accept the entry of Shudras and the Dalits into their well-preserved domain. And here lies the conflict between Brahministic Manuvad and demo-cratic outlook in a jati-varna based society where the levels of economic exploitation and deprivation have close correlation with the social layers of jatis, particularly of the lowly placed jatis. Brahministic Manuvad wants to continue with the traditional division between the manual and mental labour in the name of free competition.

It is intriguing to note the studied silence of the upper caste protestors as regards the system of capitation fees to enter medical, engineering and such other streams. Lakhs of rupees is paid to various institutions to buy the seats and one can presume that the monied people of the upper castes are the main beneficiaries of such advantage. Even the so-called Left Front government does not lag behind in such seat selling. In such cases the question of ‘merit’ is simply forgotten. Last year in West Bengal 105 students were enrolled for the MBBS degree course on payment of Rs. 10 lakh per head. For this ‘merit’ a minimum mark of 50 percent in Higher Secondary was enough and no joint entrance examination was required. The upper casteist protesters who so much clamour for ‘merit’ had never raised this issue. Nor have they raised the issue for the quota for NRIs. This is an all India phenomenon. And the Manuvadi upper caste people only want to thwart the entry of the OBCs to their domain of ‘merit’.

Some people show a curious keenness to concede reservation with the conditional stress on skimming off the ‘creamy layer’ from the purview of reservation. Apparently there seems to be some logic in such argument which is so much inclined to provide reservation to the economically worse candidates. The CPI(M) Polit Bureau in its statement on May 17, 2006 repeats the old argument in the following words "while the CPI(M) is for reservation, it has maintained that distinct from the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, there is differentiation among the other backward classes. Reservation should benefit the poorer and needy sections among these communities." Like the CPI(M) we also find a major section of the media and elite who so long wanted to preserve the upper caste status have now become votaries of reservation for the poor and needy class from among the OBCs. Many of them do covertly nurture the same opinion in regard to the SCs and STs suddenly discovering class divisions among them.

After much dilly dallying in order to woo the OBCs and the upper castes inside the BJP the party ultimately agreed to take a middle path seeking inclusion of the economically backward among the upper castes, besides the OBCs, within the ambit of reservation benefits as opposed to reservation only for OBCs. [The Statesman 31 May’06].

We are here concentrating on the OBCs and the question of ‘creamy layer’. It is really a foregone conclusion that for the concerned elite institutions only the affluent OBCs shall now grab the reservation facilities. Similarly from amongst the upper castes only the comparatively rich sections shall be able to continue with studies in the central government controlled institutions. For the reserved seats in various institutions and services meant for the SCs and STs generally the more organised and econo-mically a little better placed among them can think of joining such institutes or services. Yet after so many years the SCs and STs fail to fill up the reserved seats for the lack of enough numbers of candidates from them. So if the economic criterion is imposed the SCs and STs will be seldom represented to those institutes or services.

Similarly if economic criterion is made binding on the OBC students it will amount to negating the ground reality that the institutes which have come under sharp focus now require quite sound economic condition of the candidates. To raise the question of needy and poor sections of the OBCs for those institutes known for rich upper caste centres would mean virtual rejection of the entry of the OBC students to those fields.

By reservation we mean democratization of space and imposing the question of economic slabs right now would defeat the very purpose of reservation. Until and unless the well fortified areas controlled by the rich upper castes get tangibly broken with the entry of the so-long deprived SCs, STs and OBCs any question of economic slab or the new love for the poor and needy among the letters is meaningless.

Though the Constitution speaks of the need for reservation for the OBCs not only in services but also in educational institutions, even after 55 years justice is denied to the OBCs. In 2005 when both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha passed the Constitutional Amendment Bill to ensure reservations not only in government institutions but also in private institutions all political parties from the BJP to the Congress were apparently agog with enthusiasm in their support to the Bill to prove themselves as champions for the cause of the OBC students. The chameleon like colour changes of all such parliamentary parties became all too evident when Kalyan Singh announced 27% reservation for the OBCs in the central educational institutes in order to consolidate his OBC vote-base. The true Brahminical mindset came to the fore in respect of those bourgeois, communal and pseudo-left political parties either covertly opposing such reservation or taking the side of the anti-reservation stir or making strange arguments that will neither antagonize the anti-reservation violent protests of the upper castes students and their mentors nor will they alienate the OBCs. Such double talk, double role and masking their faces to woo the vast number of the OBCs are all crass hypocrisy of the Indian parliamentary parties. Even the present proposals of the Congress are nothing but a desperate bid to garner OBC votes particularly with a mind to the upcoming UP elections; their patch up formula is in order not to alienate the upper caste votes.

Historically speaking, during British rule, 150 years back, the very limited effort to provide education to the OBCs and SCs was violently opposed by the Brahminical elite section. It was the genuine demand of the advanced sections of the OBCs and the colonial government intervened and then immediately retreated from its move. Then emerged on the scene the great social reformer of Maharashtra, Jyoti Rao Phule who tried to impart education to the OBCs (Shudras), SCs (Ati-Shudras) and women. Phule faced stiff opposition from the Brahminical community. He was even forced to leave his home. Yet Phule remained undaunted, opened schools for those socially and economically unprivileg-ed and for all such efforts he had to face a Brahmin elite that employed goons to kill him. Yet the intrepid social reformer carried on his task of giving education to the OBCs, STs and women amidst violent opposition from the upper caste elite section. Even when the colonial government took small efforts to extend elementary education to the children of the so-called untouchables (obviously the move was in British interest of divide and rule), violent protests were made by the dominant upper caste sections. Such violence was witnessed in Madras, Central Provinces and Bombay Presidency.

The UPA government later showed its true colours by submitting to the upper caste anti-reservationists. Manmohan Singh said "The government will find a viable and credible way to protect the interests of all sections of society [Telegraph 26 May 2006]. With the huge mobilization of forces by the upper caste students, their mentors, media help the UPA government which can not risk losing its upper caste support base found the counselors in the CPI(M) to retreat from its position. The CPI(M) Bengali daily Ganashakti wrote on 24 May 2006 that Mr. Prakash Karat met the P.M on 22 May and suggested a way out of the crisis by retaining reservation, raising the seats and building up a consensus. Mr. Pranab Mukherjee became wiser by such precious suggestions and announced the increase in the number of seats so that the 27% reservation for the OBCs does not reduce the seats of the upper castes in the central education institutions. According to Mr. Mukherjee’s estimate to keep the unreserved seats intact the government is required to spend a sum of Rs. 10,000 crore in total. What a cruel joke, a joke born out of the CPI(M)’s brains and is now being implemented by the UPA government.

We strongly oppose this move. The whole amount of an estimated Rs. 10,000 needs to be spent for the education of the poor masses, a big section of whom is comprised of Dalits and the tribals.

Caste is clearly an Indian phenomenon. It resides both in the structure and the super structure in the Indian socio-economic structure. The jati-varna system has since many centuries back perpetually ordained to keep the society sharply divided between the small sections of upper castes to be engaged in mental labour and the vast toilers comprising Shudras and Ati-shudras (the present day OBCs and SCs respective-ly) only to keep on the production process and all the menial jobs. The class aspect of pumping resources from the latter has so long been mediated through the jati-varna system. The upper castes have always controlled the means of production and despite the introduction of the capitalist sector in India the caste-class scenario has not vastly changed. And the close correlation between caste and class is still found in castes, particularly amongst the vast Dalit masses in India.

The question of seat reservation, special scholarships, and special advantages for the exploited and oppressed backward castes is not new. Simultaneously with the anti-Brahmin movement, particularly in the South during the colonial period, paved the way for reservations in that part of India. In many parts of India reservations for the OBCs (along with for the SCs and STs) are in vogue. In the four South Indian states reservation for the OBCs was legally accepted through massive pressure from those sections even in the British period. It is worth mentioning that the very small percentage of the upper castes is violently opposed to the reservation since they mostly control administration, judiciary, industries, land, etc. It is the perpetual fear of those upper castes, their parties and mentors that their traditional powers, authority and control over wealth might be at stake. It is absolutely true that the reservations can not bring about any perceptible change in the socio-economic set-up. But what it can bring about is enlargement of the democratic space to an extent by allowing the centuries old oppressed castes and classes to make a dent into the centres of the upper castes.

Marxist Leninists support this process in their fight against the domination of upper castes and classes. They launch struggles on the common basic demands of the people, they do not hesitate to launch social reform movements or to extend support to such movements linked to the fundamental task of breaking down the exploitative system itself. They support the reservation demand as a democratic demand against the Brahminical hold over society, against the control of the upper castes on all aspects related to mental labour and also against the caste-class domination based on the jati-varna system.

During the submission of the Madal Commission Report in 1991 all parliamentary political parties, except a few, displayed their pro-upper caste bias and fear of losing the upper caste vote bank. Upper caste violence and display of arrogance was at its peak. And now with the announcement of 27% reservation in the IIMs, AIMs, IITs, etc. the same upper caste frenzy has picked up proving enough about the virulent existence of caste in the so-called ‘developed’ areas in the main cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, etc.

Some people are influenced by the upper caste arguments to oppose reservation. They argue that reservations can not solve any problem and that reservations have so long done nothing to the Dalits and others. It is a half-way understanding. No Marxist can conceive of reservation as a solution to the myriad problems of the exploited masses. But it is a fact that a small section of Dalits, OBCs can have some upward mobility weakening the upper caste monopoly in services and education. This is the democratic aspect. Still others are there like the SUCI party which condemned the move to provide 27% OBC reservation in central universities, medical colleges, IITs, and IIMs. It invokes the people to "protest against the most reprehensible policy of education" [Proletarian Era, May 17, 2006].

It is not our argument to shelve those pertinent issues in the name of reservation announced by none but a ruling-class Congress leader. It is also not to be forgotten that it is a demand of the OBCs for a long period of time and the Congress leader went forward to make it an issue for appeasing the OBC vote bank. The notorious BJP too supported the 93rd amendment but all such parties are now finding ways and means to make a so-called balanced approach appeasing both the upper castes and the OBCs, SCs and STs.

To conclude that we support the very limited scope of reservation and demand further reservation by extending it the private sector too not only to uplift the SCs, STs and OBCs but also to destroy the monopoly of the upper castes in all the fields where mental labour or intellectual faculty has been considered to be a sole preserve of the upper castes over centuries. We also recognize the limits of the reservation policy and even its negative impact — that of creating an elite within the ruling classes and creating illusions amongst a section of the middle class of the oppressed castes that they can get justice in this system. The latter effect can be negated by education and showing the limits of the reservation policy.

At the same time we appeal to the upper caste middle-class people and their children to fight Brahminical ideology and accept the democratization process, however limited this may be, to enable the vast backward masses to come forward, to stand on an equal footing with the so-called forward castes in the fields of education, services, etc. It is absolutely wrong to think that the percentage of reserved quotas will completely banish them from those fields as some media or people with vested interests are vocally preaching. They must be made to understand that this ‘agitation’ is merely a ruling-class ploy to divert the middle classes and enhance upper caste hatred. They should understand that the root cause for the lack of jobs and educatio-nal facilities is not the reservation policy but due to the backwardness of the very semi-colonial, semi-feudal system itself. The desperation of the middle-classes seen in the upper caste protests is due to the very limited number of seats and jobs. They should be made to understand that it is only by smashing the existing system and build-ing a new democratic system will the motor for development and growth assure exten-sive educational facilities and more jobs.

Also the oppressed castes must realize the limitations of reservations, which has got even more limited due to the policies of liberalization and privatization. They too must realize that all caste biases and equal opportunities can never be got from the existing system but by smashing it and building a true democratic system.

And in this process, while supporting the just demand for reservations the middle class from the upper castes as also those from the oppressed castes must join hands to smash the existing system and build a genuinely democratic society in India.

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