Monday Musings: The Maratha factor in Maharashtra

PUNE

The issue of Maratha reservation is back to haunt the state government led by chief minister Eknath Shinde and his two deputies – Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. For around a decade and a half, no chief minister in Maharashtra has escaped the wrath of Maratha community, seeking reservation.

Fadnavis, a Brahmin, however, has faced the most even as it was under his rule, between 2014 and 2019, that the state government made maximum efforts and successfully offered reservation to Marathas. Marathas were first granted 16 per cent reservation in jobs and education by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Congress government led by Prithviraj Chavan in 2014 although it could not sustain as within days the High Court quashed it.

After Fadnavis offered reservation, the High Court upheld it. In 2021, when Uddhav Thackeray was the chief minister, the Supreme Court turned down the reservation, citing that Marathas cannot be termed backward, and there’s restlessness within the community.

The apex court has taken a firm stand on the issue and has also quashed a review petition by Shinde-led state government in April this year. While the government has now gone into curative petition, hoping for a different approach from the Supreme Court, many feel the outcome may not change.

Given that curative petitions have on most occasions never worked in the past, the Marathas have brought in change in their stand with demand that they be included in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.

It’s for the same reasons, some members of the Maratha community from Marathwada have been on hunger strike and the government too appears to be taking a serious note of it given the size (around 31% of population) and clout the community has in state.

While the protests were initially largely away from media’s radar, the violent protests in Jalna district of Marathwada brought to centre stage the issue and those raising it.

If the reservation protests in the past were staged by prominent leaders from Maratha outfits, the current face of the agitation – Manoj Jarange Patil – was largely an unknown name even as he has participated in various protest on the issue previously, due to the violent clash between the police and his supporters.

If the police lathi charge on Maratha protestors was an immediate trigger for the issue to be in the focus, there is another reason too for many in the community feeling uneasy. For the past one and a half years, the state election commission has not been able to hold local elections, be it for municipal corporations, councils, or zilla parishads due to various petitions in the Supreme Court. The state government too on its part has not shown keenness to push for local body polls, possibly due to political considerations.

Marathas, being politically influential and active, feel left out and seek polls to possibly restored their status. At the same time, the sentiments related to reservation are stronger among those in the community from Marathwada region compared to Marathas from western or north Maharashtra.

With smaller land holding, lack of jobs, and inadequate rainfall this year, the unease is far more among Marathas in Marathwada. It is for the same reason, Patil’s demand has been to first give Kunbi certificates to Maratha community in Marathwada. With Kunbis being part of OBCs, the certificates can enable Marathas of reservation.

However, it will not be easy for the government to accept this demand as it can lead to unrest among Marathas and OBCs who feel the move will eat into their quota.

Interestingly, Marathas till late 1980s were not keen to reservation and there was reluctance to be tagged backward. However, after the Mandal Commission recommended 27 per cent reservation to OBCs, Marathas began to feel left out in jobs and education. By the first decade of this century, community hit the streets and protested for reservation.

As argued in this column in the past, Marathas have over the decades retained its clout in Maharashtra’s politics, keeping its share intact in power. If Maharashtra has had more than 60 per cent chief ministers from Marathas, the community has fair representation in the cabinet or in state assembly.

On the economic front, Marathas are a stratified community. Dalit writer Anand Teltumbde, who extensively covered the caste system in India, has observed in his Economic and Political Weekly piece that Marathas have witnessed three-fold stratification.

The lowest at the hierarchy are either land-less or marginal farmers. They are mostly from Maharashtra’s Marathwada and account for largest within the community. It is for the same reason, the demand for reservation to community gained maximum traction in this region.

It is for this section that many political parties have sought reservation, citing they account for majority of the community. The same class, attracted towards caste-based outfits such as Maratha Mahasangh, Sambhaji brigade and Chhawa, has largely remained dissatisfied with those within the community holding on to power. This section is largely trapped in agriculture sector without access to urban resources.

At the middle level are those having control over land and resources through various institutes like cooperatives and credit societies. Many in this category have control over rural credit and banking. There are many in this category whose next generation has migrated to bigger cities such as Pune and Mumbai for jobs.

In the cities though, this section has not been able to dominate the economy. On the contrary, many have had to settle for secondary position, not in consonance with Maratha pride.

The top most category in the Maratha stratification is one that has direct control over power. This section, no matter which party is in government (Ajit Pawar being a classic case), has enjoyed the fruits of power. This has at times led to increasing gap between Maratha elite and the community with former using identity politics to gain power without ensuring the benefits of power reaching the community at large.

Today, the community that assumed control of the state’s political apparatus seeks tag of backwardness as many within it could not taste the benefits of post-globalisation economy. While the community draws its dominance from the caste cluster of Marathas and Kunbis, which makes its numerically strong, economically, a large section of it has not been able to achieve material growth.