The new war over reservation is a gift to the BJP

Having expressed my initial scepticism about the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement at Jantar Mantar, I became extremely happy with the manner in which it conducted the movement to its successful conclusion. The spontaneity of the youth overwhelmed the leaders, disregarded conventions, shunned decencies, defied police terror, and, above all, broke the thick clouds of fear that had engulfed the country for the past 12 years.Its achievement is not limited to the resignation of a Minister; it also lies in taming the Modi government, which has reduced this country of 1.4 billion people to a country of cowards and assumed an air of invincibility. But even more than that, I would consider its transcendence of identities—caste, class, gender, religion, ethnicity, language and what have you—which have historically plagued this country and become major impediments in its progress.Although Jantar Mantar had an overwhelming presence of Ambedkar placards and “Jai Bhim” slogans, Gen Z treated them as caste neutral and displayed an inspiring transcendence of identities. The protesters showed a profound understanding that any movement around people’s issues belonged to all, and that its diversity was the real assurance of its success.Therefore, I least imagined that another movement, calling for the abolition of reservations and carrying blatant casteist overtones, would sprout from the same soil of Jantar Mantar, and that too in the wake of the unprecedented success of the earlier protest movement. It was unbelievable that it was seeded by some of its participants.It might have been reconciled as a part of its diversity, but the kind of reception it received from the government, coupled with the open support of some of the known ideological affiliates of the present dispensation, creates serious doubt about its spontaneity.Reservation Hatao AndolanDuring the CJP protests, a young NEET aspirant from Uttar Pradesh, Harsh Dubey, began appearing in television debates and social media discussions to raise the question of reservation. His argument was essentially that the reservation system was affecting opportunities for students competing in examinations, and that the system needed reform. There was nothing new in this argument. During the celebrations over the CJP’s success, Dubey started an Instagram page called “Reservation Hatao Andolan” (RHA), which rode on the same wave of digitally mobilised youth anger, scoring 5.6 million followers by July 28. Interestingly, although he named his place “Abolish Reservations”, in an interview with Newslaundry in early August, Dubey contradicted his position, saying that he was not demanding the immediate abolition of reservation but wanted changes in the system.Sometime thereafter, Dubey handed over much of the running of the RHA social media campaign to Anuradha Tiwari, Ajeet Bharti, and Neha Das, said to be experienced anti-reservation/general category activists. From there, the movement acquired greater vehemence, arguing that caste-based reservation should go; caste should cease to be used as an official identity; and reservation should instead be based on economic disadvantage. It called for reservations for persons with disabilities, orphans, children of martyrs, and economically poor people irrespective of caste or religion. Even with these improvisations, there was nothing particularly new in its demands.However, when it also called for an end to caste identification in government and educational forms and used the slogan “One Nation, One Identity”, it inadvertently revealed the unmistakable imprint of the Sangh-BJP ideological universe. That is a significant ideological shift—from “reservation reform” to a much broader challenge to the institutional recognition of caste.On August 21, in response to the call by RHA, there was a large influx of students, farmers, homemakers, businessmen, and other community members mobilised directly by traditional upper caste and right-wing groups, including the Ranvir Sena, the Karni Sena, the Akhil Bharatiya Kshatriya Mahasabha, and the Swami Anand Swaroop-led Kali Sena. Their demands included: reform/abolition of caste-based reservation; economic criteria for affirmative benefits; changes to the UGC Equity Regulations; greater benefits for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS); a white paper on the history and effects of reservation; and, among some participants, the abolition of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.The Delhi Police had not authorised the Jantar Mantar demonstration and offered an alternative venue at Ramlila Maidan for up to 500 people but the protesters refused to move, and the police and the Rapid Action Force eventually cleared the site, detaining several protesters. That confrontation gave the campaign another burst of publicity.Although the RHA presented itself as politically unaffiliated and rather expressed disappointment over the BJP’s failure to change the reservation system, the overwhelming saffron presence could hardly be ignored. It seemed to betray an association with the broader Hindutva project.As the demonstrations had stalled, there was no pressure on the government. But on August 27, Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda met Harsh Dubey, Ran Bahadur Singh Chauhan, and Mrityunjay Pathak, representatives associated with the movement. Nadda described the meeting as cordial and said that he would meet them again.

People take part in the “Reservation Hatao Andolan” Jan-Jagran rally from Zero Mile to Samvidhan Square in Nagpur on July 30, 2026. | Photo Credit: Ranjit Deshmukh/ANI It may be noted that the government first sought to delegitimise the CJP movement—calling them “virus”, “tukde gang”, and “B-Team” of terror groups—then confronted it through the police, and finally opened a political channel. Nadda met the CJP leaders only after Sonam Wangchuk and three All India Students’ Association activists had endured an indefinite fast for over three weeks, protesters had suffered persistent excesses of Delhi Police and the issue had threatened to escalate with the CJP’s march to Parliament. The BJP had left no stone unturned in maligning the movement until then.The unfolding of every dimension of the RHA movement, however, appears to uniquely benefit the BJP. It potentially divides the youth constituency that had largely appeared immune to identity politics. The RHA itself was seeded by some of the protesters in the CJP movement. Problematising reservations will always evoke emotions for and against. The RHA easily found support among many Hindutva-oriented outfits, as their presence at Jantar Mantar demonstrated. The BJP can publicly distance itself from RHA but can quietly support it. Caste is always a potential divider and can be deployed in sophisticated ways by the people who emerged from the same ecosystem as the CJP. In the final analysis, the only entity that stands to benefit from the RHA episode is the BJP.Misplaced demandsDubey’s self-contradiction apart, the demands voiced by the RHA at Jantar Mantar were ill-informed and misleading. There is already a reservation for persons with disabilities, under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, which mandates at least 4 per cent of government employment vacancies for persons with benchmark disabilities (generally, 40 per cent or more certified disability), and at least 5 per cent of seats in government and government-aided higher educational institutions.Another RHA demand is reservation for children of martyrs. Although there are no specific reservations for them, several specific quotas, priorities, concessions, and welfare schemes exist for the wards/dependants of defence personnel killed in action, and some for Central Armed Police Forces personnel killed in service. The Ministry of Defence reserves medical and dental seats for wards of defence personnel, with priority for wards/widows of those killed in action. The ex-servicemen reservation in central PSUs and public sector banks includes 4.5 per cent for disabled ex-servicemen and dependants of personnel killed in action. The armed forces and several States also provide specific educational and employment benefits to wards of battle casualties and ex-servicemen.As for the demand for orphans, they may qualify on economic grounds under the EWS reservations already instituted by the government.The curious demand for the abolition of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, however, has nothing to do with reservation and therefore betrays a deeper antagonism towards the protection available to SCs and STs. The EWS reservation instituted by the present regime exclusively for those outside the SC/ST/OBC reservation framework and upheld by the Supreme Court also carries a potential bias in favour of the upper caste population. It arbitrarily excludes poor SC/ST/OBC persons from its purview. Moreover, if realistic estimates of caste composition are used—or the Bihar caste survey as the proxy—the ratio of reservation percentage to population percentage suggests that EWS may provide substantially greater demographic coverage to the dominant caste population.Shrinking pie of reservationsIt is interesting that reservation-related quarrels—whether over sub-categorisation of existing reservations, demands for reservations by non-reserved communities, or demands for reform/abolition of reservations as with the RHA—do not question the shrinking space for reservations, whether in employment or higher education. For example, regular employment in the Central PSUs has shrunk from 12.91 lakh in 2014-15 to 7.84 lakh in 2024-25, a reduction of 5.07 lakh, or 40 per cent. The distress caused by this shrinking pie affects everyone including the reserved categories. Yet, no one raises the issue.The structure of employment has been changing since we adopted neoliberal reforms. Regular salaried jobs are increasingly replaced by contract and casual employment. In the same Central PSUs, the share of regular salaried employment in total employment has fallen from 81 per cent in 2014-15 to 50.81 per cent in 2024-25.These issues are never raised by both reservationists and anti-reservationists, as they target upwards. Their demands are directed sideways, towards their fellow citizens, rather than towards the government.Anand Teltumbde is a civil rights activist and the author of over 30 books. He is the former CEO of Petronet India Ltd and a professor at IIT Kharagpur and the Goa Institute of Management.Also Read | The kids are showing India a new kind of politicsAlso Read | Is the Caste Census being sabotaged again?