BJP & party MP at loggerheads over Maratha quota impasse; all eyes on Shivaji's descendant

The impasse over the Maratha quota has Maharashtra has created a rift between BJP and its MP Chhatrapati Sambhajiraje, who is a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Addressing the media on Sunday, Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil stressed that his party does not support the Rajya Sabha MP's stance of delaying protests on the issue until the COVID-19 wave subsides. Lamenting the Supreme Court's verdict in the Maratha quota case, Sambhajiraje had urged political parties to keep aside their differences and formulate a joint strategy.

Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil remarked, "We do not agree when Raje says that the Maratha quota should be ensured but without struggle and after the end of COVID-19. What is the connection of COVID-19? Corruption is also going on. Should the Maratha community wait till the last patient of COVID-19 gets discharged?" 

It is pertinent to note that the BJP MP deflected from the party line by not blaming the state government for the debacle in the apex court and instead, publicly expressed his displeasure on being denied a meeting with PM Modi. During his ongoing statewide tour on the reservation issue, he has met representatives of the Maratha community living in Nashik, Kolhapur, Akola, Dhule, Beed, Raigad, Amravati, Aurangabad, Jalna, Thane, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Palghar and Nandurbar. On May 28, he submitted a list of 5 demands to Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and warned of commencing an agitation by June 6 if they are not fulfilled. 

The Maratha quota verdict

In the SEBC Act which came into force on November 30, 2018, the Maratha community was declared as a "Socially and Educational Backward Class" and accorded 16% reservation, propelling the total reservation in Maharashtra to 68%. While upholding the validity of this law, the Bombay High Court reduced the quantum of Maratha reservation to 12% in educational institutions and 13% in public employment. However, the SC stayed the reservation on September 9, 2020, and referred the matter to a larger bench. 

On May 5, the Constitution bench comprising of Justices Ashok Bhushan, S Abdul Nazeer, L Nageswara Rao, Hemant Gupta and S Ravindra Bhat unanimously ruled that neither the Gaikwad Commission nor the High Court made out any grounds for exceeding the ceiling of 50% reservation for Marathas. Moreover, the apex court observed that there was no question of revisiting the verdict in the 1992 Indra Sawhney vs Union of India case which had capped the total reservation at 50%. Thus, it struck down the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2018 to the extent that Marathas cannot be held as "Socially and Educationally Backward Class" and they are not entitled to reservation.