The Maratha mobilisation for reservation in higher education and public employment has reached its peak with the protesters issuing an ultimatum to the government. The Marathas desperately want a reservation that can stand in a court of law. While Marathas have organised mass demonstrations since 2016, it must be noted that from 1953 to 2008, three National Backward Classes Commissions and three Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commissions rejected the Maratha demand to be included in the OBC list. So, what changed in the past two decades which compelled the Marathas to organise massive rallies and even burn the houses of elected Maratha representatives over the reservation question?
Editorial | Not a panacea: On the Maratha demand for reservation
Scholars have attributed the following reasons: agrarian crisis and assertion of OBCs in the rural and urban local bodies. However, I suggest the crisis of dominance explains the current mobilisation of the Maratha reservation. We need to pay attention to the interlinkage between what I call the urban and rural crises.
