Caste-ing a Spell
Gehlot relaxes EWS quota norms to swing upper-caste support in the Congress’s favour
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s move to rid the jobs and education quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of riders and consider an annual income of under Rs 8 lakh as the sole eligibility criterion appears to have paid off, with upper-caste votes in the state swinging towards the Congress. Signals of the shift were evident in the assembly bypolls held on October 21, in which the Congress wrested the Mandawa seat from the BJP by 32,000 votes and reduced the margin of defeat in Khinswar dramatically from about 50,000 votes in the 2018 assembly election to just 4,500.
The Narendra Modi government introduced the 10 per cent quota for EWS in the general category in January 2019—a decision that is thought to have immensely benefitted the BJP in the general election by negating upper-caste unrest against the caste reservation system. However, several riders came in the way of extending the benefits to EWS families. Irrespective of family income, individuals were denied EWS status if they owned five or more acres of agricultural land, residential flats of 1,000 sq. ft. and above, residential plots of 100 sq. yards and above in notified municipalities and residential plots of 200 sq. yards and above in areas other than notified municipalities. Also, property held by an EWS family at various locations was clubbed. Officials were not issuing property certificates to EWS applicants for want of adequate documentary evidence. Scores of salaried individuals and traders failed to avail EWS quota despite falling in the permissible income group.
The Gehlot government dropped the property criterion a day before the bypolls, attracting support for the Congress from among Rajputs, traditionally a BJP vote base; Jats, who have been against Gehlot; as well as upper-caste Muslims. “We amended the EWS criteria to implement the quota in its true spirit,” says Gehlot, an OBC leader from the Mali community. In the past one week, the chief minister’s official residence in Jaipur has been receiving representations from upper-caste communities, thanking him. Even Union Jal Shakti minister and BJP leader Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has supported the decision and recommended that the Centre follow suit. ■