Can Rajasthan Congress Fix Its Quota Crisis Ahead of Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo?

[00:00:00] You are listening to The Quint's Story Reads.

[00:00:03] I'm Nishtha Gautam and in this episode we are reading an open-end article written by Rajanmahan.

[00:00:09] Can Rajasthan Congress fix its quota crisis ahead of Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra?

[00:00:16] As the tussle between Chief Minister R.A.G. Gehlot and his former deputy CM Sachin Pilate Rage's own,

[00:00:26] a quota twist has suddenly deepened the Rajasthan Congress crisis.

[00:00:31] For years, the State Party unit has been split into two warring camps where hostilities flare up on a range of issues,

[00:00:40] from top leadership to petty posts and ministerial births to caste calculations.

[00:00:46] The latest battle has erupted over an unlikely issue.

[00:00:50] Anomalies in other backward classes' quotas,

[00:00:54] due to a change in rules by the previous BJP government in 2018,

[00:00:59] which allegedly enables ex-servicemen to dominate the quota for OBCs.

[00:01:05] The initial salvo too came from an unlikely source.

[00:01:09] Jart leader Harish Chaudhary generally considered a Gehlot loyalist.

[00:01:14] The senior MLA and former cabinet minister Chaudhary is in charge for Punjab Congress

[00:01:20] and stood with Gehlot in the prolonged feud with Pilate.

[00:01:24] But when the State Cabinet deferred the quota issue last week, Chaudhary was livid.

[00:01:30] Minceing no words on his disappointment, he took to Twitter asking,

[00:01:36] Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, I'm shocked. What do you want?

[00:01:41] And added, I assured the OBCs that I will fight whatever battle has to be fought on this issue.

[00:01:50] In reality, Chaudhary has been upset on this quota issue for quite some time.

[00:01:56] In August, he even sat on Dharna in Barmer when community groups

[00:02:01] under the banner of the OBC Arakshan Sanghar Samiti held protests on this issue.

[00:02:07] Chaudhary belongs to the powerful Jart community, which along with other OBC groups

[00:02:13] is leading the agitation for the withdrawal of the 2018 notification.

[00:02:19] Issued by the former BJP government, the notification of 17 April 2018 says

[00:02:27] Reservation for ex-servicemen shall be treated as horizontal reservation

[00:02:32] and shall be adjusted in the respective category to which the ex-servicemen belong.

[00:02:39] This was a crucial change to the 12.5% quota for ex-servicemen.

[00:02:45] Earlier, this quota was over and above other reservations such as for SC, SD and OBCs.

[00:02:53] But after this circular, the ex-servicemen quota runs across all categories

[00:02:58] on the basis of overall merit.

[00:03:02] 55% of Rajasthan's total population comes from OBCs and a huge chunk of ex-servicemen belong to the same groups.

[00:03:10] Ex-Defense personnel take a large share of the 21% OBC quota

[00:03:16] and OBC leaders claim that lakhs of youngsters

[00:03:20] lose out since most of the posts now get filled by ex-servicemen.

[00:03:27] Besides Jodhuri, several other Congress MLAs are also upset on the quota question.

[00:03:33] Pilot lawyer list and young MLA Mukesh Bhakar tweeted

[00:03:38] If the government does not take a quick decision in the interest of OBCs

[00:03:43] the Chief Minister will be responsible for the atmosphere that gets created

[00:03:48] against the government and the party.

[00:03:50] For me, getting rights for the youth is more important than any post.

[00:03:56] Other Jat leaders like Hemaram Chaudhary, Divya Madarna and Krishna Punea

[00:04:03] have also urged Geyaloth to decide quickly on this matter.

[00:04:08] Basically, the Jat lobby wants that ex-servicemen should have a horizontal reservation on the lines of women's reservation

[00:04:16] and Harish Jodhuri has even threatened an agitation against Geyaloth

[00:04:21] if this quota question is not resolved quickly.

[00:04:25] In sharp contrast, many Congress leaders, headed by Minister for Seneca Lyan Rajendra Gurdha

[00:04:32] are strongly opposing any change in the ex-servicemen quota.

[00:04:38] Calling it shameful that defence personnel are being divided into communities

[00:04:43] Gurdha contended, I want to tell my ex-servicemen brothers that the day any assault is made on your rights

[00:04:51] I will exit the government.

[00:04:53] I want to tell the Chief Minister that if any assault is made on the rights of ex-soldiers

[00:04:59] I will resign and stir up a storm.

[00:05:03] Besides Minister Gurdha, another Rajput leader of the Congress, Manavendra Singh Jasol

[00:05:09] has shot off a letter to CM Geyaloth urging him not to permit any change in the quota for ex-servicemen.

[00:05:16] As President of the Seneca Lyan Salakar Samiti, Jasol claims that the quota for defence personnel

[00:05:24] is backed by the Constitution and Supreme Court rulings

[00:05:28] and wants the Geyaloth government to ensure that no injustice is done to ex-servicemen.

[00:05:35] While Rajput and the state Congress taking diametrically opposite stands

[00:05:40] the discrepancy in OBC quotas created by the inclusion of ex-servicemen in the category

[00:05:46] could snowball into a huge crisis.

[00:05:50] Besides putting the state government in a tight spot

[00:05:53] it threatens to pit two major communities of the state against each other.

[00:05:58] As the quota mess deepens, CM Geyaloth is scrupulously silent.

[00:06:03] But in September, he had assured the OBCs of resolving the quota anomalies

[00:06:08] due to which OBC youths face a tough time in getting government jobs.

[00:06:14] Geyaloth even tweeted that

[00:06:16] this issue will be resolved at the earliest by taking departmental and legal opinion

[00:06:22] so that recruitments do not get stuck in judicial process.

[00:06:27] Now, as the clash escalates,

[00:06:29] Geyaloth may be reminded of one of the worst nightmares of his political career

[00:06:35] the jart agitation for OBC reservations in 1999

[00:06:40] which dented his popularity and caused major losses for the Congress

[00:06:45] in Geyaloth's first tenure as Chief Minister.

[00:06:49] Significantly, this quota quandary has erupted just a fortnight

[00:06:54] before Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra enters Rajasthan.

[00:06:58] Factionalism in the state unit is simmering ever since

[00:07:02] pro-Geyaloth MLA's boycotted a Congress Legislature party meet

[00:07:07] in Jaipur on 25 September to ensure that such a pilot would not get the leadership reins.

[00:07:14] Despite notices to three Geyaloth loyalists who allegedly organized the revolt,

[00:07:20] the Congress High Command has taken no action.

[00:07:24] This led to an outburst from Sachin Pilat who recently asked the party leadership

[00:07:29] to end the climate of indecision in Rajasthan.

[00:07:33] Now, many in the pilot camp want the leadership issue to be resolved

[00:07:38] before the Rahul Yatra enters the state.

[00:07:41] The quota conundrum has made it far more tricky to resolve the Rajasthan crisis

[00:07:47] which is now an asset test for new President Mallikaar Junkarge and the Congress High Command.

[00:07:54] With Ajay Makan also quitting as the Rajasthan in charge,

[00:07:57] as he's reportedly upset over the September revolt by Geyaloth loyalists,

[00:08:02] the Congress crisis in the state is deepening by the day.

[00:08:06] With elections in the state due next year, time is rapidly running out for the Congress.

[00:08:11] Salon leaders sniping at each other, unsure party carters, quota frictions

[00:08:17] and an air of uncertainty is surely no recipe for electoral success.