The concept of a quota for the economically weaker sections (EWS) in the general category, which the BJP-led Centre is now seeking to implement through a Constitutional amendment, found favour with Dravidian leaders like M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) and M. Karunanidhi four decades ago.
Back then, the idea was mooted more as a response to a row over the introduction of economic criterion for the backward classes (BCs). In July 1979, the AIADMK government, led by MGR, set an annual income limit of ₹9,000 for the BCs to be eligible for reservation in education and public employment. This decision was withdrawn in January 1980, after the AIADMK faced a drubbing in the Lok Sabha election.
It was during the intervening six-month period that MGR and Karunanidhi had spoken of the need for helping “have-nots” among those who were not covered by reservation, a perusal of archival materials of The Hindu revealed.
Addressing an event in Madurai in July 1979 (a week after his government announced its decision on reservation), the then Chief Minister had advocated the inclusion of economic criterion, and not caste, as the basis for determining backwardness for the provision of educational facilities. A month later, MGR told a gathering in Pudukottai that his government was aware of the presence of “have-nots” among Brahmins and other communities. It would do its best to offer “protection” to them, he said.
In August, Karunanidhi, the then president of the DMK, who had been spearheading protests against the AIADMK regime’s move, suggested that 15% or 20% out of the quota for the open category be set apart for “helping the poor in all communities, including Brahmins.” But there should be no economic criterion for the 31% quota earmarked for the BCs, he said. [It was in January 1980 that the AIADMK government hiked the quantum of reservation to 50%]. In fact, the suggestion was based on a resolution adopted by the DMK at a meeting of the party’s general council in Chennai a month earlier.
‘A different concept’
When asked what had prompted MGR to consider the idea of a quota for the economically weaker sections in the general category, Panruti S. Ramachandran, who was a Minister in the former CM’s Cabinet, told The Hindu that providing equal opportunities was the governing factor. “Economic criterion was meant purely for those who were deprived of opportunities just because they happened to be poor,” he said, clarifying that the reservation for BCs was a “different concept” which was developed for historical reasons.
R.S. Bharathi, DMK’s organising secretary, said his party’s stand 40 years ago was that any scheme of reservation for the poor in the general category was permissible provided it did not disturb the quota for BCs and the SCs/STs. But in the present context, the DMK was opposed to the idea as it was apprehensive that the latest move of the Centre might, eventually, lead to a reduction in the quantum of the existing quota for the BCs, MBCs, SCs and STs in order to accommodate the share of the general category.