RSS stirring the Patel pot for reservation rejig

GANDHINAGAR: While Gujarat is staring at a possible caste war with the Patel community raising its demand for inclusion in the OBC category, political insiders insist that the agitation could snowball into a nationwide stir for reservation based on economic criteria rather than caste.

People within Sangh Parivar maintain that while RSS and BJP would want to introduce reservation based on economic criteria, thereby helping a large chunk of upper castes to avail of quotas in education and jobs, any direct move in this direction is fraught with political risks. “Hence such a movement like the Patel quota stir would come in handy to create an environment across the country. If directed properly, reservation policies can eventually be tinkered with,” said a Sangh insider on the condition of anonymity.

OBC category, according to insiders, is to challenge the legitimacy of OBC politicsand sanctity of quotas and question the veracity of social backwardness of OBC categories.The logic of influential and dominant castes seeking quotas within the OBC category, according to insiders, is to challenge the legitimacy of OBC politics and sanctity of quotas and question the veracity of social backwardness of OBC categories.

Such an exercise of a dominant upper caste community demanding a backward status could blur the social hierarchies, leading to a situation where only the economic status of the applicant becomes a verifiable fact.