OBC leaders too demand quota in job promotions

NEW DELHI: The politically-powerful OBC bloc has begun to flex its muscles for reservation in promotions, casting a shadow on the bill to restore the facility for SCs/STs that has already run into resistance from Samajwadi Party and BJP. 

A day after DMK chief M Karunanidhi supported the demand for "promotion quota" for OBCs on par with the one proposed for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, other chieftains like Lalu Prasad and N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday threw their weight behind the fresh quota clamour. 

Wednesday had also seen members of OBC Parliamentary Forum, headed by Congress's V Hanumantha Rao, demanding that the Centre bring a law to institute "promotion quota" for backwards. The OBC Forum, a pressure group comprising members of all political parties, submitted a formal demand to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. 

The flurry of statements from backward satraps seeking parity with dalits and tribals coincides with the Centre's effort to amend the Constitution to clear the legal hurdles holding up restoration of "promotion quota" for SCs and STs. 

The demand to extend "promotion in reservation" to OBCs is not new but had so far been expressed more as a wish. The OBC leadership still appears to acquiesce into the reality, though increasingly grudgingly, that the special circumstances of dalits and tribals -- from untouchability to primitive living conditions -- placed them on a special footing insofar asaffirmative action was concerned. 

Even on Wednesday, the DMK chief stressed that he was not demanding a "promotion quota" for OBCs as a condition for supporting the Constitution amendment bill for SCs and STs. He even urged political parties to support the bill introduced in Rajya Sabha. 

However, the chorus over the past few days marks the beginning of the transformation of the hope into a sense of entitlement; one that was strongly articulated by SP in the all-party meeting held on August 21 to discuss the Constitution amendment bill and, again, on Wednesday after the legislation was introduced in Rajya Sabha. 

Political observers find the pitch significant also because of the growing vulnerability of the regime at the Centre, pointing out that their success in 1990 when they coaxed the then PM V P Singh to implement the Mandal Commission's recommendation for an OBC quota in central services could be the inspiration. 

Although supported by every political party, implementation of "Mandal award" had not seemed a realistic prospect until Singh, anxious to continue in office, made the fateful announcement in August 1990. 

The demand from backward leaders ties in with the grudge among their core constituents that 'promotion quota' for dalits puts them back in their professional careers. SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav angrily complained on Wednesday that "promotion quota" for dalits and tribals would turn "juniors into seniors and vice versa". 

"Who will tolerate this," the SP chief thundered just after his troops in Rajya Sabha tried to stop the government from introducing the Constitution amendment bill. 

In their grievance against the "special status" for dalits and tribals in quota matters, they have a ready compact with upper castes. Leaders like Mulayam see this convergence of grievances as a political opportunity that can be milked at the hustings. Entrenched upper caste lobbies in Congress and BJP are not unhappy, as they hope to leverage the OBC clamour for parity with dalits and tribals in "promotion quota" to thwart the passage of the bill. 

BSP supremo Mayawati on Thursday demanded that the Centre extend the monsoon session, ending on Friday, by 10 days to pass the bill. 

She said the continued disruption in Parliament showed that the Centre was only playing the charade of trying to pass the bill. She demanded that the Centre restore order in Parliament by talking to BJP on Coalgate and to parties opposed to the bill. "Else, dalits will never forgive the two-faced central government," she said. 

The bill seeks to amend the Constitution to exempt promotion quota for dalits and tribals from the criteria of 'backwardness, adequate representation and administrative efficiency'. The apex court has made the three conditions mandatory for giving promotion quota to SC/STs. 

In its Indira Sawhney judgment of 1995, the SC had, while upholding Mandal Commission's recommendations, termed promotion quota for all categories -- dalits, tribals and OBCs -- as unconstitutional. The Centre amended the Constitution to insert Clause (4A) in Article 16 to insulate 'promotion quota' for dalits and tribals from the apex court verdict, but left the OBCs out. 

The differentiation stands, with the personnel ministry telling Parliament on Wednesday, "The provisions of the Constitution do not enable the government for making provisions for reservation in promotion in favour of OBCs." It said the government was not considering any proposal for promotion quota to OBCs and backward minorities. 

Source : The Times of India, Sept 7, 2012