Maratha stir: A delicate balance
Fadnavis needs a short-term solution and a long-term plan
On August 5, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the Bjp-led state government will begin legal consultations for reservation in government jobs and educational institutes for the Maratha community. He added that his government will try to table a bill to enact a law on reservation before the end of 2019. This has not placated the community outfits, though. They want a written assurance from the government, or else, they say, they will continue with the agitation from August 9.
Mr Fadnavis faces a unique problem when it comes to the community’s demands. The community comprises 32% of the state’s population, and is a politically potent force. The previous dispensation led by the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) announced reservations for the community in 2014, but it was set aside by the Bombay High Court. This was challenged in the Supreme Court, which sent the matter back to the HC, which asked the government to demonstrate the backwardness of the community. It was left to the Fadnavis government to address the concerns of the community, even while maintaining the sanctity of the court’s order. Interestingly, the Maratha Kranti Morcha (MKM), the umbrella organisation behind the agitation, seemed to have briefly lost control of some of its members who went on to create fringe groups that allegedly indulged in the July violence. Though the MKM has promised there will be no violence after August 9, the government cannot take chances. Mr Fadnavis will, therefore, have to arrive at a short-term solution as well as a long-term strategy to calm nerves as well as keep his party’s prospects alive in the next state and general elections. His government will also have to convince the HC that the community is economically and socially backward, and that it deserves reservation.
It is no consolation that Mr Fadnavis is Brahmin by caste, a fact that may create a trust deficit between the two sides. The Fadnavis government has very little time, and very little space for manoeuvre. It will require all the skills of the seasoned state politician to overcome this challenge.