2006 Indian anti-reservation protests

Protest in India against reservation for OBCs

The 2006 Indian anti reservation protests were a series of protests that took place in India in 2006 in opposition to the decision of the Union Government of India, led by the Indian National Congress headed multiparty coalition United Progressive Alliance, to implement reservations for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in central and private institutes of higher education. These protests were one of the two major protests against the Indian reservation system, the other one being the 1990 anti Mandal protests. The government proposed to reserve 27% of seats in the premier educational institutions of India like All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and other central institutions of higher education for the OBCs in order to help them gain higher levels of representation in these institutions. This move led to massive protests, particularly from students and doctors belonging to the General Category, who claimed that the government's proposal was discriminatory, discarded meritocracy and was driven by vote bank politics.

India is divided into many endogamous groups i. e. castes and sub castes, as a result of social stratification and presence of untouchability. During the British Raj, some methods for upliftment of these depressed classes were introduced by the British, progressive thinkers and Hindu reformers. These included reservations in the legislature and in government jobs. After independence, the Indian constitution introduced provisions for reservations for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SC/ST) in government institutions, to give a fair representation to the weakest sections of society i. e. Dalits and Adivasis. 22.5% of the seats (SC 15%, ST 7.5%) in higher education institutes and public sector undertakings at both state and central level were set aside for them. Uplifting the SC/ST's representation par with the upper castes has not yet been achieved. In 1989, the then Prime Minister of India V. P. Singh accepted and implemented nationwide the proposals of the Mandal Commission, which had been established by the Morarji Desai led Janata Party government in 1979. The proposals of this commission recommended 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in public sector undertakings and state level educational institutions. OBC's were a group of castes which fell in between the upper castes and Dalits; they were historically not oppressed and socially boycotted as the Dalits and Adivasis, but were still socially, educationally and economically backward compared to the upper castes. Though some Indian states such as Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh had already implemented the OBC reservations earlier in their higher educational institutions, this decision now forced every Indian state to implement OBC reservation. By combining this 27% quota for OBC's and the earlier 22.5% reservation for the SC/ST's, the percentage of general (unreserved) seats in any medical, engineering or other institute falling under the state government reduced to 50.5%. This included even the unaided private colleges. As a result, there was widespread protests from the students belonging to the unreserved category (forward castes), claiming that they were being discriminated and that merit was being discarded.

The protests began from 26 April 2006 with medical students protesting in New Delhi against the government's proposal, where students were lathi charged and water cannons and tear gas were fired on the students. Another such protest was carried out by medical students in New Delhi on 13 May 2006 where students were again lathi charged and detained for few hours. Medical students held a protest in Mumbai on 14 May 2006, where students were lathi charged, despite the protest being banned by the Bombay High Court. They were lathi charged by the police. Many anti reservation protesters now began to group under the aegis of Youth For Equality. The following were the demands made by "Youth For Equality"

After the government reaffirmed its commitment to implementing reservations, the protesters called for a "Civil disobedience movement". Their protests were also supported by the traders in Delhi, who threatened to shut shops if the government didn't roll back on its decision to extend the OBC reservation. The AIIMS Faculty Association went on a mass casual leave from 25 May 2006 to support the anti quota stir, but made it clear that basic health care services would not be disrupted. However, whether health care services were really unaffected is questionable. On 28 May 2006, the government set up an Oversight Committee to "prepare a road map with a time bound programme to implement 27% reservation for OBCs without compromising merit and addressing apprehensions aired by students propose an effective way to implement reservations keeping the interests of all sections of society in mind". This committee, headed by Union Minister and former Karnataka Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily, would submit its report by 31 August 2006. On 31 May 2006, in deference to the Supreme Court directive, resident doctors resumed hospital works from 1 June 2006, as the health service was affected seriously due to the strike. However, protest from the part of students (both medical and other streams) continued and a national coordination committee comprising representatives of medical colleges, IITs and several other educational institutions had been proposed to be formed to lead the agitation. The Supreme Court has also sought the government to clarify the basis on which the reservation policy was being implemented. However, these protests slowly died down and eventually ended.

The 93rd Constitutional Amendment was passed unanimously in the Lok Sabha except for two abstaining members. the "creamy layer" is used in reference to members of economically advanced population belonging to any caste. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also supported the reservations, but called for upholding merit and excellence in educational institutes. They asked for the benefits of reservation to be extended to "economically weaker sections of the forward castes", and also for exclusion of the "creamy layer". The student wing of the Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad too supported the reservation for OBC's, hailing them as a "historic need", but they also called for exclusion of the "creamy layer". The Congress, which introduced these quotas, vociferously backed them. Congress workers allegedly confronted the fasting doctors at AIIMS. They were headed by Sacchar Singh, a relative of Arjun Singh. They proceeded with heavy slogan shouting. It almost became a show down between both camps; however, the police managed to stop these workers. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), a pro Dalit party, urged the Union Government to ban the strike by the anti reservation students and go ahead with its decision to provide reservation for the Other Backward Classes in higher education. The Dravidian parties of Tamil Nadu supported the move and demanded that the OBC reservation quotas be implemented without any delay. They called upon the government to pay no heed to the anti reservation protestors. The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), a key constituent of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led alliance in Tamil Nadu, went to the extent of organising a pro reservation protest march in Chennai. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Lalu Prasad Yadav openly supported the OBC reservation proposal and requested the UPA not to reconsider or delay it. The Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) too supported the OBC quotas and said that granting of facilities to SCs, STs and OBCs for higher education had become a subject of "unnecessary debate". The Samajwadi Party condemned the anti reservation protests, and said that the attitude of the protesting students toward reservation was wrong.

The only political party which opposed the OBC reservation was the Marathi nationalist party Shiv Sena. Its supporters went on a procession in Mumbai to protest the move saying it was vote bank politics and a means to divide Hinduism.

On 10 April 2008, the Supreme Court upheld the law for the provision of 27% quota for candidates belonging to the Other Backward Classes in IITs, NITs, IIMs, AIIMS and other premier educational institutions. But it directed the government to exclude the "creamy layer", families whose annual salary in more than ₹4,50,000, among the OBCs while implementing the law. However, the "creamy layer" exclusion would not be applied to the SC/STs.