BJP govt sets up backward class panel in Haryana, Oppn sees eye on non-Jat votes

The government’s reasoning is that a recent Supreme Court order makes it clear that states would have to submit empirical evidence about backward class numbers in order to extend reservation benefits to them. After Madhya Pradesh quickly set up a report, submitted it and got a go-ahead to extend reservations based on it, other BJP-ruled states (like Gujarat, and now Maharashtra) are trying to do the same.

In 2020, the BJP-JJP government in the state had amended the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act to give 8% reservation to backward class category candidates, apart from fixing 50% seats for women. Haryana Assembly Deputy Speaker Ranbir Singh Gangwa, a backward class leader, said the High Court had given the government the go-ahead to hold the panchayat polls on the basis of the above amendments, but only subject to the final order of the court.

Post the Supreme Court order though, the backward classes could not be given quota in the recently held municipal body polls. The government argues that without numbers backed by a panel, the same would hold true for the panchayat elections, which are scheduled to be held by September 30.

Haryana Development and Panchayats Minister Devender Singh Babli, in fact, has announced that the panchayat polls would be held this time as per the previous provisions, or without a quota.

A senior backward class leader, the Congress’s Lal Bahadur Khowal, questioned the timing of the panel’s announcement. An advocate and chairman of the Haryana Congress’s legal cell, he said: “In politics, it’s not necessary that you actually do something for a community but you should appear to be doing something. The BJP-JJP too wants to mislead the people ahead of the panchayat polls for political reasons. If it was serious about giving reservation to backward classes in the panchayat polls, why did it not form the commission earlier?”

Khowal admitted that while the exact share of the backward classes in Haryana’s population was not known, it was very significant and difficult to determine. However, Gangwa believes, one way to do it, is to consider the Parivar Pehchan Patras given by the government to create a reliable data of all families in Haryana. “The figures of Scheduled Caste and backward class families are already available via these,” he said.

Reservation has been a very sensitive issue in Haryana for long, with its politics largely centred around the Jat, non-Jat divide. With the other parties in the state like the INLD, ally JJP and the Congress boasting of big Jat leaders, the BJP has been trying to woo the non-Jats, though officially it insists it believes in the concept of “Haryana ek, Haryanvi ek (one Haryana, one Haryanvi)”.

Haryana BJP spokesperson Sudesh Kataria said the formation of the Backward Classes Commission should not be seen in the light of the coming panchayat polls, and that the move was only aimed at ensuring the welfare of groups that need help.

Gangwa told The Indian Express: “The formation of the commission would pave the way for reservation in the future. This would help resolve other problems of backward communities too.”

Announcing the panel on July 10, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said: “This commission will take care of all the problems of the community. It will ensure that they get the benefits of schemes.”

The government said the panel will study the social, educational and economic conditions of the backward classes, and their representation and participation in the government as well as in government schemes, especially students.