In the upcoming state elections in Tripura, the RSS/BJP is planning to woo 30 percent OBCs in the state. Out of them, 90 percent belong to Nath and one other dominant caste. The RSS/BJP will focus on winning their votes and Yogi who belongs to Gorakhnath tradition has already visited the state couple of times.

The RSS/BJP manages the caste equations microscopically as if taking a leaf out of the BSP’s strategy of the 90s. These equations of caste configurations are important for the RSS/BJP as it can never ascend to powers just on the basis of Brahmin and Bania votes which is the core constituency of the RSS/BJP.

On the one hand, the RSS/BJP woos the OBCs, but on the other hand, they have been out to deny rights of representation to the OBCs in the educational and government institutions. The court is being used to quash important executive decisions to stop the effect of the reservation and forward progress of the backward classes (SCs, STs, and the OBCs) in India.

The reservation in promotion is one such issue that needs a nationwide discussion. Looking at the press coverage, it merited no “front page” news and the leading English dailies have not even reported it, except the Indian Express, which relegated it to middle pages.

Reservation in promotion is an important issue of national importance as it is about the “reservation in services”. The reservation services mean the reservation in the posts and therefore logically it means reservation on all the possible posts. It is up to the executive to work out how this representation is ensured at all levels. It is not the area of the judiciary.

Reservation, if it is to serve its purpose, must be extended not only horizontally, but also vertically. It is the matter of procedures that can be worked out by different government departments and it may be discussed in the Parliament as to how the “representation” can be ensured all the way up in the bureaucratic echelons.

This is time to also think about reservation in Judiciary and Army. There is an unwritten reservation for the “particular” castes in the Judiciary and the Army. It must be challenged now and the reservation must be extended to all the public bodies.

Author – Mangesh Dahiwale, Human Rights Activist