Backward March

The Maratha reservation question may continue to mire the next government in the state

- Shweta Desai

A NTI-caste crusader and activist, Professor Shrawan Deore, was only a young student when the fires of antiMandal protests raged across Maharashtra in 1982. At the time, the All India Maratha Mahasangh founded by then Congress MLA, Annasaheb Patil-an eminent leader from the Mathadi community in Bombay, distinguished by his burly physique and twirled moustache-was spearheading Maratha melavas (gatherings) to oppose reservations for socially and economically backward castes. Marathas comprise nearly 30 per cent of the state's population, and have long maintained an aristocratic, feudal and political hold in the state. From chief ministers, ministers and legislators to sugar barons, agricultural and banking co-operatives and educational institutes, Marathas were comfortable in dominance.

But across the country, OBC leadership was slowly taking centrestage due to the emerging phenomenon of reservation politics, recalls Deore, 65, head of the OBC Political Front party. "All the top positions in the government and the ruling class belonged to the Brahmins or the Marathas. They feared the implementation of the Mandal Commission (recommendations) would challenge the status quo by elevating the positions of the OBCs in the state and bringing them into power," he says.

Farmers, women, students and unemployed youth used to throng meetings organised by the Maratha Mahasangh at the time, contributing to a heated atmosphere against the 'low castes' with disparaging slogans of "Mandal Aayog, Bandal Aayog," (Mandal Commission is a bluff) and threats of "we will burn Maharashtra to ashes" echoing in the state's sociopolitical spaces.

The Mahasangh's provocative manifesto demanded reservations based on economic 'backwardness', not social 'backwardness'.