Religion, Caste And Tribe Based Reservation - 3

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<b>Will quotas help or harm the Cong?</b> <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->When Arjun Singh decided to play the Mandal card 15 years later, he may not have realized that India had moved ahead during this period. With high growth rates in a buoyant economy, the appearance of an assertive upper and middle class estimated to number around 300 million, and a decline in poverty levels from 38.9 in 1987-88 and 36 in 1993-94 to 26.1 in 1999-2000 (which may have fallen even further), the ‘socialist’ cause no longer sets hearts aflutter.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It is more than likely that the backward caste votes will continue to be cornered by the OBC-dominated parties of Lalu Yadav, Sharad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav while the upper caste votes, as well as the votes of whoever opposes reservations, will be secured by the BJP. As a result, the Congress will fall between two stools.

The Congress made the same mistake in 1990 when it opened the locks of the Babri masjid and organized a shilanyas for the proposed Ram temple in the masjid complex to win over the Hindu votes, then being aggressively sought by the BJP with its mandir wohin banayenge campaign. But the fallout was that the Congress alienated the Muslims without being able to win over the Hindu votes.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The government’s response involved, first, the classic delaying tactics of setting up a committee to examine the matter. Then, it decided to increase the number of ‘general category’ seats, which also is timeconsuming.

So, even if some of the sting has been taken out of Arjun Singh’s efforts to embarrass the prime minister, the Congress may still suffer because of the HRD minister’s grouses and ambitions
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