Reservation in Outsourced Jobs in Bihar Causes Heartburn in BJP

Patna: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s recent announcement that outsourced jobs of the state govt. will need to fulfill govt. reservation policy requirements has created a caste divide in the state’s BJP which shares power with Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) in the state. According to officials, now there would be reservation in appointments of doctors, engineers, teachers and other professionals appointed on contractual basis by the state government.

Vocal upper caste party leaders and workers of BJP have not only publicly expressed their opposition to this new policy, at least half a dozen caste based organizations closely associated with BJP’s leaders have staged protest across the state and threatened to intensify their protest against it. BJP is meanwhile downplaying the uproar in view of crucial assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

Senior BJP leader and former Union minister C P Thakur, Union minister Griraj Singh and BJP MLC Sachitanand Rai are among those who have questioned Nitish Kumar’s decision according to reports. Several BJP leaders and MLAs from upper caste have spoken in private against reservation in contractual appointments according to reports, but they have refused come out in the open following a directive by Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and state BJP president Nityanand Rai, both OBC leaders, to maintain silence over the matter. A BJP MLA said party leadership has threatened to take action against anyone who opens his mouth over this issue in public.

Savarn Sena, a known pro- BJP organization of upper caste, has threatened to file a petition in the Patna High Court to challenge the state government’s decision of reservation in contractual appointment through outsourcing. It said it will oppose reservation in private sector and threatened to launch statewide protest.

Organizations of upper castes like Savarn Sangharsh Samiti and Khetirya Mahasabha have protested in Darbhanga , Saharsa, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Gaya, Arwal, Bhojpur, Jehanaabad and Aurangabad districts in last one week .

“Reservations are not appropriate in outsourcing. The extending of reservations to a new area may make a section of the society feel that the space available to it is shrinking. This may lead to social and public unrest that may become difficult to handle,” Thakur reportedly said, according to sources.

“I am not totally against the idea of reservation. But I strongly oppose extending of quota to outsourced jobs. It will create a 'disadvantaged section' among the upper castes. If the state government continues to extend quota to more new areas, the members of upper caste will become disadvantaged section. I have decided to oppose this move at the party forum and also outside the party," Sachidanand Rai reportedly said.

What angered BJP’s upper caste leaders and workers here that Nitish Kumar also favours reservation in private sector jobs."I favour reservation in private sector jobs. There must be reservation in private sector too,” Nitish Kumar had recently said.

"There must be a debate on reservation in private sector at the national level. There was nothing wrong in the decision of Bihar government to give reservation in contractual jobs. It was being done as per the Reservation Act," he added.

The BJP-JD(U) alliance forged only recently after Nitish Kumar ditched Lalu Yadav’s RJD and took support from BJP, has been facing a series of caste based tremors. A powerful lobby of upper caste leaders in Bihar BJP were upset when OBC leader Nityanand Rai was appointed as the state unit chief . A few years ago upper caste BJP leaders belonging to the landed Bhumihar and Rajput communities had targeted former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi for his style of functioning. During 2015 Assembly polls, BJP upper caste leaders opposed alliance with Hindustani Awami Morcha (HAM) of former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and the union minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) because they promised to extend job quotas to the private sector.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s demand for a review of ongoing reservation in jobs during the 2014 general elections too had caused an uproar and was a factor in turning the tide against the BJP in the state.

With caste a major factor in Bihar politics, BJP is playing at wooing OBCs at the cost of upper castes, who are less than 15 percent of total population. However, it will not sit well with the powerful upper caste lobbies that are strongly with BJP. The alliance in BJP is facing a turbulent future.