Introduction

Hardik Patel, a 21 year old young man, has risen into an overnight sensation courtesy the Patel community’s demand for OBC reservation. His main grouse is that Patels have remained poor because of educational backwardness and need to be uplifted through reservation in jobs and educational institutions vide OBC categorization. Of course, this is a shallow political agitation, but the messaging is very loud and clear for the idea of reservations in India. Let us understand the relevance of this agitation below.

Why Reservations in India?

Reservation or positive affirmation is a necessary ingredient of right to equality under Indian Constitution. But how should it be practiced? Should it be practiced a la Big Boss’ house, where people can be promoted arbitrarily to give political rewards? Or should it be practiced transparently on the basis of fixed criteria? Till now, the reservation in Gujarat has been practiced in the first realm, i.e. arbitrarily. Patels were also the biggest beneficiaries of it. But, since this kind of reservation is not formal, they have felt left out and want more. I am just rejecting their demand for reservation outright.

However, India also has a constitutional scheme. In this scheme, reservation has gained the status a fundamental right. In Indian Constitution, three categories of right to get reservation have been established through judicial activism:

1. The rights of schedule castes to get reservation.
2. The right of schedule tribes to get reservation.
3. The right of the socially and educationally backward classes to get reservation.

Problems with Reservations in India

Out of the above categories, I say the creation of the first category of fundamental right is communal (unless “dalits” are considered non-Hindus, which, unfortunately, they are not so under Indian Constitution). The idea of the constitution was never to create this positive affirmation. How can there be a fundamental right restricted to a single religion? Obviously, other religious groups like Muslims and Christians have also started identifying “dalits” among themselves and have started demanding reservation for them. But, the same has not been granted and will not be granted unless “dalits” are recognised as a single, coherent group, appearing alike in all religions and not losing their identity on conversion from one religion to another. Personally, I am against caste based reservation because better substitutes are available — Malay reservation in Malaysia can be studied.

The most contested reservation right, however, is that of socially and educationally backward groups. This identification has also emerged more or less on the caste basis, albeit across religions, on the premise that, in India, social classes, not economic classes, define backwardness. I can’t blaim judiciary much in this because they couldn’t have intrepreted economic backwardness in social backwardness. But, it is indeed an opportunity lost for judicial activism, which allows for innovative intrepretations far beyond the fantasies of poets and writers.

Hardik Patel’s Relevance

So, the fundamental right to get reservation can and do needs a fundamental change. This is where Hardik Patel becomes relevant. He has raised an important issue of reservation policy in India. Hardik Patel is an insignia of changing political dimensions of India, where old foes of reservation have accumulated all kinds of Hindus in their fold including dalits (assuming them to be Hindus for the purpose of this piece); so, they can’t even think of meddling with reservation policy.

At the same time, AAP’s successful stratification of voters into poor and rich has opened up new dimensions in Indian politics in Urban India. If Hardik Patel is a strategy of AAP, I will have to admit they comprise minds far smarter than I imagined. Gujarat, where poverty is defined not only on the basis of existing financial backwardness but also on the basis of opportunity cost of educational backwardness, is the correct choice for practicing the rich-poor divide in a rural setup, and the action has begin with a big bang.

Hardik Patel is indeed a political phenomenon, which has the capacity to overturn the politics of India. No wonder the US media has recognized him, and so will those who are ignoring him as of now.