Origin of the Maratha demand for OBC Status

The Maratha-Kunbis are a highly stratified caste cluster, predominantly populated by peasant cultivators extending to feudal lords, aristocrats and erstwhile rulers. However, they demonstrate a high degree of unification in electoral politics. While scholars estimate Marathas to be around 24%, Kunbis approximately 7%, and OBCs about 27% of the state's population with a total of 409 castes, precise figures are unavailable due to the absence of empirical data.

The core demand for the Maratha reservation centres around educational and employment opportunities, excluding political reservations. This was addressed by the Central government through the introduction of the economically weaker section (EWS) category in 2019. In a recent cabinet sub-committee meeting on the Maratha reservation, it was noted that Marathas constitute the largest group benefiting from the EWS reservation. This year, approximately 76% of Marathas availed EWS benefits for education, and 84% for employment opportunities. Despite this, Marathas continued their agitation, and now there is a pressing demand from the Marathwada region to confer Kunbi status upon all Marathas across the state, as Kunbis are recognised as OBCs by the Mandal Commission.

The main reason for their continued protest is to retain power in electoral politics, by appropriating the reservation discourse through a ‘backward’ journey by evoking Kunbi identity.

This initiative was first taken by Maratha Mahasangh in the 1990s while still emphasising their esteemed kshatriyahood. As the welfare state model contracted, Maratha's anxiety grew over material concerns, and the class divisions among them became visible. In response to this crisis, the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party-led government in 2004 legitimised a new caste category — the ‘Kunbi-Maratha’ — though there was no concrete anthropological evidence of such a connection as noted by political scientist Rajeshwari Deshpande.

Subsequently, in 2018, the BJP government backed these arguments through the State Backward Class Commission headed by Justice (retired) MG Gaikwad and extended 16% reservation to Marathas in jobs and education under the Socially and Economically Backward Classes (SEBC) category. The move carried significant implications for OBCs, as Marathas, if granted OBC status, could easily access political quotas and potentially impede the political aspirations and progress of OBCs, achieved over recent times.

The Marathas initially opposed the OBC reservation in the early 1980s, fearing a threat to their socio-political dominance. However, with the changing economic policy in the globalisation era, the demand for reservation among poor Marathas became popular due to increased economic deprivation. Responding to this crisis, various Maharashtra governments introduced exclusive reservations for Marathas in jobs and education. However, none of these reservations passed legal scrutiny, including the recommendations of the MG Gaikwad Commission which was ruled to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court for exceeding the 50% cap of reservations. The findings lacked reliable, scientific, and adequate data to convincingly demonstrate either the backwardness of Marathas or the extraordinary condition of increasing reservation.

According to the scholar-activist Shrawan Deore, OBCs have been receiving reservations since 1967. During that period, the Marathas did not seek reservation. It was only after the implementation of the Mandal Commission that political reservation for OBCs was extended to local bodies in 1994. It was around this time that Marathas began demanding reservations, as OBC leadership emerged by pursuing political reservations and posed a challenge to the Maratha's hegemonic dominance.

The Mandalisation of politics, followed by the extension of the political quotas to OBCs in Panchayati Raj institutions brought about a shift in state power dynamics and consequently affected the social standing and political clout of Marathas, compelling them to negotiate with OBCs, especially in the local level. The emerging local competition from OBC was one of the important reasons that Maratha Kranti Morcha organised several silent marches in 2017-18 across the state, and not because Devendra Fadnavis, who belonged to the Brahmin caste, became chief minister, said a senior BJP leader who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Watch: Maratha Mukti Morcha: why are Marathas protesting?

Political reservation allowed historically marginalised backward castes to enter into electoral politics, an arena previously entirely controlled by Marathas. By leveraging the 'Bahujan Samaj' narrative, Marathas maintained political power over the Shudra masses, from the village to the state level, from the formation of the state of Maharashtra up to the late ’80s. This was further reinforced by their influence over state policies in areas such as agricultural investment, education, and rural self-governance. However, with democratic deepening and increased political competition with the forceful entry of Shiv Sena-BJP in state politics, Maratha dominance began to wane in the late 1980s.

The inclusion of Marathas will also have the effect of further straining the already meagre 19% allotted for the OBC reservation, and it will place severe constraints on its operations. Interestingly, ongoing public discourse on the Maratha reservation overlooks the social justice principle of representation, and instead treats it as mere concession.

Social media platforms are rife with rumours, disinformation and anti-OBC propaganda that alleges that due process has not been followed in granting reservations to OBCs. This has also led to a notion that the OBC reservation should be struck down as it is unconstitutional. Furthermore, there is a widely propagated view that repeatedly collecting data on backwardness is only mandated for the Maratha reservation, which is seen as an injustice to the Marathas. Against this backdrop, the troublesome nature of the Maratha demand becomes visibly complicated and legally problematic.

The caste census factor

Interestingly, while state politics is abuzz with these issues, public discourse has a conspicuous silence on this matter. Aside from Chagan Bhujbal, other prominent OBC leaders are yet to assume a position on this issue. On the other hand, Vijay Wadettiwar of Congress and NCP’s Amol Kolhe, have demanded that the Marathas should be given reservation from the OBC quota. It is only the non-political OBC organisations and their leaders who have brought the complexity of the issue to the fore. Their voices of resistance have created a stir and led to much anxiety.

This political scenario reflects a lack of political imagination and a sense of policy deadlock across parties despite unanimous support for this demand. Therefore, it is crucial to reflect on the implication of these developments, which will significantly impact the transformative potential of the reservation discourse and, eventually, the OBC politics, which has, in the last few decades, played a prominent role in the deepening of political democracy. This ongoing chaos can be addressed through a caste census to provide a new road map of social justice beyond ‘reservation policy’ with up-to-date information on the socio-economic status of all castes.

However, the reluctance of the Centre and the state to undertake such an exercise is likely to sustain this impasse for the foreseeable future.

The writer is PhD scholar working on Post-Mandal politics in Maharashtra at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai.