Caste-Based Reservation and Politics

The Supreme Court order allowing Tamil Nadu to continue with the 69 per cent quota in government jobs and educational institutions for a year is a shot in the arm for the ruling DMK as reservation has been a key issue in the State’s socio-political mobilisation.To put it otherwise, in the State that pioneered the concept of job reservation, no political party can ever aspire to reap votes, leave alone capturing power, by taking an open stand against quota.For, not only is the idea of reservation ingrained in the collective psyche of the people, its history in Tamil Nadu dates back to 1854 when the British government issued a standing order (No 128-2) urging collectors to divide the subordinate appointments in their districts among the principal castes.Subsequently, in 1921, the Madras Presidency, during the regime of the South India Liberal Federation aka Justice Party, which was the forerunner for the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK), passed a government order (GO) listing out the job quota: 44 per cent for non-Brahmins, 16 per cent for Brahmins, 16 per cent for Muslims, 16 per cent for Anglo-Indians and Christians and eight per cent for scheduled castes.The GO remained on paper till 1927, when Muthiah Mudaliar, a minister in the next government headed by P Subarayan issued fresh orders, which came to be known in popular parlance as the ‘Communal GO’, to ensure job reservation in the registry department.The Communal GO subsequently underwent changes — somewhere along the line the term Backward Hindu was also incorporated — and quotas were provided for in jobs and admission to colleges till 1950 when the GO was struck down by a full bench of the Madras High Court on the ground that it went against Article 29 (2) of the Constitution.The verdict was given on two cases, one filed by Shanbagam Duraiswamy and the other by C R Srinivasan. The grievance of Duraiswamy was that she had applied for medical college admission and could not get a seat in view of the reservation policy...