For those following the Maharashtra Assembly election, the result announced on November 23 came as a surprise: Not because the BJP-led Mahayuti won the State, but because of the enormous margin of its victory. Ironically, just six months ago, during the Lok Sabha election, the party had contested 28 seats and could only win nine. This was the lowest tally for the party since 1998.
There were multiple reasons behind Mahayuti’s defeat in the general election. From the agrarian crisis to the consolidation of Dalits and Muslims votes in favour of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to the Maratha reservation protest. But each of these issues took a back seat in the Assembly election.
The Maratha reservation demand helped MVA win 12 Lok Sabha seats. So what changed in these six months? The answer, curiously, is nothing. The reservation has not yet been implemented. Maratha leader Manoj Jarange Patil had decided to contest the Assembly election but later withdrew. In the Marathwada region, which was perceived as the epicentre of the protest and where MVA had won seven out of eight Lok Sabha seats, Mahayuti not only made a comeback but won a thumping 41 seats out of 46.
The biggest factor that proved decisive in the BJP’s success to overcome the “Maratha Challenge” in the Assembly election is the party’s capacity to strategise swiftly. It had understood back in June that winning back Marathwada will need a multi-dimensional strategy. For the larger electorate, they come up with two big answers: one was the welfare scheme Ladaki Bahin,and second, an indirect answer of the OBC consolidation against the political challenge posed by the Maratha community.
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The first protest by Laxman Hake, the OBC leader, started in Jalana district on June 13. Hake, who belongs to the Dhangar (shepherd) community, was the candidate in the Madha Lok Sabha constituency in May 2024. He got less than 6,000 votes. He had been brought from Western Maharashtra’s Madha to Marathwada’s Jalana. Hake opposed the dilution of the OBC quota. This was a direct, anti-Maratha reservation demand.
The State government had assured the Maratha community that they would be included in the Kunbi community, which, in Maharashtra, comes under the OBC category. Soon, a Dhangar leader began a protest in Marathwada to save OBC reservations from the Maratha community. In the Lok Sabha election, the Marathas had decisively tilted in the favour of the MVA, resulting in the defeat of two big OBC leaders, Pankaja Munde (Vanjari) and Mahadev Jankar (Dhangar) from Beed and Parbhani, respectively; both of these constituencies are in the Marathwada region. Within 10 days of the defeat of the State’s two biggest OBC leaders, Hake started his fast to protest the dilution of the OBC quota.
The socio-political history
To understand these dynamics, it is important to look at Maharashtra’s socio-political history. The Marathas have been a dominant caste in the State. In Indian history and mythology, there were several Brahmin kings. But in Maharashtra, the Maratha, who are supposed to be second in the Chaturvanya system, have always been kings or the ruling class. They had substantial powers, both pre-and post-independence, in governance, politics, educational institutions, agriculture-based cooperative industries, rural banking, and local body elections. For a long time, it is also a fact that the Maratha did not share this power with other castes, be it Brahmin, Dalit, or smaller castes from OBC communities. It was only later, in the 70s, that things began changing as the dominant Congress party started expanding its base during the Indira Gandhi era.
This predominant upper-caste hold on the power gave way for the demands of the Mandal Commission. Before that, socialists under the leadership of Ram Manohar Lohia were successful in mobilising smaller castes. In Maharashtra, socialist leaders including S.M. Joshi and N.G. Gore succeeded in penetrating smaller pockets as well as cities such as Mumbai and Pune. Jan Sangh, which was at that time a party of mainly upper-caste members, was not keen on the strategy to mobilise the smaller “non-political” castes. The idea of socialists to challenge Congress’ dominance through the mobilisation of smaller castes was simple. If the Congress in Maharashtra is predominantly a Maratha party, then bringing all non-Maratha together would help them get into power. Socialists did not shy away from bringing Muslims and Dalits on the board, unlike the Jan Sangha.
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In the post-Emergency era, the new BJP understood the basics of non-Maratha politics. So, in North India, BJP pushed Kamandal politics as a challenge to Mandal. But in Maharashtra, BJP’s Vasantrao Bhagwat, an RSS ideologue, observed that the new leadership comes from non-Maratha Hindu communities. The Mandal Commission termed these communities as OBCs. The BJP brought in Gopinath Munde (Vanjari) and N.S. Farande (Mali) to challenge the Congress’ hegemony in the State. This gave the BJP the space to reach communities such as Mali (gardener), Dhangar (shepherd), Vanjari (a semi-nomadic caste from Marathwada), and others. This helped BJP in the 80s as well as in the 2024 Assembly election.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the slogan “Ek Hai Toh Safe Hai” in the Maharashtra Assembly election campaign, many took it as a communal rhetoric against Muslims. But it was a call for OBCs as MVA was seen as a champion of the Maratha cause during the Lok Sabha election.
There are historical reasons behind the BJP cadre’s strong anti-Maratha undertone. Although the party has now reached out to various OBCs and SCs, its political vocabulary has always been anti-progressive. Maharashtra has had a long history of progressive movements. Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, the doyen of Indian political thought for equality, started the Satyashodhak Samaj movement in 1873. It was the first ideological and action-based challenge to the Brahmin hegemony in Maharashtra’s socio-political scenario.
Till then, King Shivaji, a founder of the Maratha Empire, was called Go Brahmin Pratipalak (saviour of cows and Brahmins). Phule called him Kulawadi Bhushan (Kulawadi means Kunbi). In the 1880s, there was no compartmentalisation of castes. All agricultural communities were called Kunabi) and Bahujan Prati Palak (saviour of Bahujan). The Satyashodhak Samaj movement later became a Brahmanetar(non-Brahmin) movement in 1920 and 1930s. The leaders of Brahmanetar were Keshavrao Jedhe and Dinkarrao Javalkar.
Lokmanya Tilak was their main target due to Tilak’s alleged stands on many issues related to Bahujan politics. Until his death, Tilak was the tallest leader of the Congress. After him, Gandhi emerged as the Congress stalwart. Gandhi took the baton from Tilak and expanded the base of the Indian freedom movement. This duo, Jedhe-Javalkar, as they were famously called, joined the Congress under Gandhi’s leadership. This anti-Brahmin movement spread across the then-Mumbai province.
Today’s Western Maharashtra was in the Mumbai province. When in 1948, a Brahmin from Maharashtra, Nathuram Godse, killed Gandhi, this was taken as an attack on Bahujan Asmita (pride) by Brahmins. Many Brahmins had to flee from their native villages to cities such as Pune and Mumbai as the riots erupted in Maharashtra. Jan Sangh, the RSS’s political wing, thus never gelled with the Maratha. This continued later with the BJP too. And this is why the BJP’s political vocabulary, with undertones of Hindutva, does not go well with the Maratha even today.
BJP’s Maratha candidates
So, when Manoj Jarange Patil successfully decimated the OBC leadership of the BJP in the Lok Sabha election, the BJP started mobilising its original vote base. They also worked on the possible division of Maratha votes with strong Maratha candidates.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah waves to an audience during a public meeting in support of BJP candidate from Jintur, Meghana Bordikar. Parbhani, Maharashtra, November 13.
| Photo Credit:
ANI
For example, in Jintu constituency of Parbhani district in Marathwada, the repeated ticket to Meghana Bordikar, the daughter of Maratha strongman from the area, Ramprasad Bordikar. Ramprasad was once in the Congress and close to the then-Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh. It helped the BJP divide Maratha votes, and with the help of OBC votes, Meghana Bordikar won the election.
Over time, prominent Marathas from across the State developed financial institutions in their respective areas: sugar mills, education institutions, dairy, or other agro-based industries. This network helps them politically during the elections. In last decade, the BJP has successfully brought some of these Marathas into their camp. After the Lok Sabha election, there was a belief that many of these families would again unite against the BJP to safeguard their interests. But the Assembly results, and especially the BJP’s huge victory, will push them to reconsider going against the BJP. This means the BJP won the election through the clever mobilisation of anti-Maratha forces, especially OBCs. And the party will use this mandate to bring the remaining Maratha leaders in Maharashtra to their knees.
It is a fact that Maharashtra has remained a progressive State for 70 years because Maratha leadership ruled it most of the time. The base of the Maratha leadership was developed during Phule’s movement and afterwards during the Jedhe-Javalkar Brahmanetar movement. The first Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Yashwantrao Chavan, was a product of these movements for social justice.
Sharad Pawar, although compromised much during his political career, was a pupil of Chavan. From bringing in reservations for women in local body elections to OBC reservation in local bodies and renaming Aurangabad (now Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) university to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar University, Pawar anchored the State on the line of progressive politics. With this election, the political vocabulary of Maharashtra has decisively changed from King Shahu, Mahatma Phule, and Dr. Ambedkar to Batenge Toh Katenge. This is bound to impact the State’s socio-political scenario in the years to come. And these changes will draw the fault lines of caste politics in Maharashtra.
Jaidev Dole is a senior journalist and author.
