Maharashtra Election: Parties Tread The Maratha & OBC Reservation Factor Cautiously

Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024: With the Maharashtra Assembly elections just around the corner, all contesting parties have put their full strength into the final phase of campaigning. Everyone is raising issues at convenience and making promises of efficiency and freebies to the voters. But a big issue seems to be getting lost amid the cacophony of poll doles and election promises. It's the Maratha reservation issue, which was being considered a big game-changer until about two months ago.

Until the announcement of the election dates, many political experts were saying that this time, the Maharashtra Assembly elections would centre around the Maratha quota protests led by Manoj Jarange and no political party would be able to ignore it. But come November, the issue seems to have been diluted.

The situation is similar with OBC reservations. Considered a winning plank until a few months ago, political leaders are now treading the "reservation" path cautiously. The big question is that while everyone talks about the two issues, hurling mud at each other, why is no political party making a clear promise?

Mahayuti's Approach To Reservation

The BJP and Shiv Sena Eknath Shinde faction, which are part of the Mahayuti alliance, had been speaking in support of Maratha reservation and OBC reservation until a few months ago, but now things seem to be changing. The focus has now shifted to "unity". While UP CM Yogi Adityanath gave the slogan "batenge to katenge [divided we shall be cut]", Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about unity with his slogan of "ek hain to safe hain [United we are safe]".

The Mahayuti coalition of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar), and the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) recently published a front-page advertisement in all major newspapers, showing all communities in turbans. The caption read: "ek hain to safe hain". The advertisement with a saffron background displayed the names and symbols of the Mahayuti constituents. However, experts say that the BJP is trying to balance the complex equation of votes in this way. BJP's attempt is to appease both Maratha and OBC vote banks together.

Amit Shah's Justification Of Reservation Denial

While the BJP has been mostly silent or vague about Maratha reservations, Union Home Minister Amit Shah in his recent Dhule public meeting said that any further reservation would eat up into the share of the Other Backward Class (OBC) and the Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) communities. Shah was, however, speaking about reservations for Muslims. He flat-out refused to grant any reservation to the Muslim community.

According to a 1992 Supreme Court judgment, reservations cannot exceed 50%. However, the Congress has consistently advocated the removal of the 50% cap.

Voter Factor

Maratha Vote

According to political pundits, the Maratha community in Maharashtra has always dominated here. Out of the 288 MLAs elected in the 2019 Assembly elections, about 160 were Marathas. In the recent Lok Sabha elections, Maratha candidates won more than half the seats in the state.

In terms of vote banks, Marathas comprise about 28% of the population in Maharashtra. This is the reason why every political party talks about it. There are 46 assembly seats in the Marathwada region, dominated by the Maratha community, and 70 assembly seats in western Maharashtra with a significant population of the community. This comes to a total of 116 seats.

Going by the 2024 Lok Sabha election results, the Maha Vikas Aghadi is leading in around 32 assembly seats in the Marathwada region and the Mahayuti on 12 seats.

Meanwhile, Manoj Jarange Patil, the face of the Maratha quota agitation, launched an all-out war this week on the Mahayuti for its failure to grant OBC reservation to the Kunbi Maratha community. He alleged that the Mahyuti had used Marathas only to target Muslims, but didn't support the community.

OBC Vote

OBC is the largest class in Maharashtra. According to the report of the Backward Classes Commission, 52% OBCs are in Maharashtra. The Vidarbha region, which is influenced by OBC voters, has 62 Assembly seats. In such a situation, it is both necessary and a compulsion for every political party to take along the OBCs along with the Marathas.

In this region, too, the MVA seems to have an advantage as per the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. While the Mahayuti is led in 20 assembly segments, the MVA's lead was more than double as it saw an advantage in 42 assembly seats.