Mandal commission protests of 1990 were against reservation in government jobs based on caste in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Background

Mandal Commission

Mandal Commission was set up in 1979 January by

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...

government to identify the socially or educationally backward classes to consider the question of seat reservations and quotas for people to redress caste discrimination, and used eleven social, economic, and educational indicators to determine backwardness. It was chaired by

B. P. Mandal Babu Bindheshwari Prasad Mandal (25 August 1918 – 13 April 1982) was the chief of the Murho Estate and an Indian politician who chaired the Mandal Commission. Mandal came from a rich Yadav landlord family from Madhepura in Northern Bihar. He ...

. The commission submitted the report to the president on December 30, 1980. It recommended 27% reservation quota for OBC resulting in total 49.5% quota in government jobs and public universities.

V.P. Singh Vishwanath Pratap Singh (25 June 1931 – 27 November 2008), shortened to V. P. Singh, was an Indian politician who was the 7th Prime Minister of India from 1989 to 1990 and the 41st Raja Bahadur of Manda. He is India's only prime minister to ...

, the Prime Minister at the time, tried to implement its recommendations in August 1990 which led to protests.

Protests

These protests were against giving government jobs to certain castes on basis of birth rather than merit of the candidate . This commission snatched away the rights of upper caste to get the government job as the reservation percent has become 49% in government job and institutions. These protests closed roads, highways, transportation services, government services, schools, and businesses of

. Anti- reservationists protested. Student protests were planned publicly, and in advance. Protest events were photographed for many published articles of newspapers locally and nationally.''

The Tribune ''The Tribune'' or ''Tribune'' is the name of various newspapers: United States Daily California *''Oakland Tribune'' * ''The Tribune'' (San Luis Obispo) *'' San Gabriel Valley Tribune'' Indiana *''Kokomo Tribune'' *'' Peru Tribune'' * ''The Trib ...

'' newspaper, 1 September 1990, Chandigarh, India. Protests began during the year when the eleven-year-old

Mandal Commission The ''Mandal Commission'' or the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission (SEBC), was established in India in 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai with a mandate to "identify the socially or educa ...

was opened to bring into effect new government employment opportunities, reservation for backwards classes. Between the failure to effectively control the political cost of the protests escalating enough to close parts of the nation, and an eleven-year-old human rights improvement project, were causes that ultimately led to accepting the resignation of the

Janata Dal Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an List of political parties in India, Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 ...

party's

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

, V. P. Singh. Culturally unique features of the protests and riots were bandhs (a version of a strike),

hartal Hartal () is a term in many Indian languages for a strike action that was first used during the Indian independence movement (also known as the nationalist movement) of the early 20th century. A hartal is a mass protest, often involving a total sh ...

s (a version of a municipal shut-down),

dharna A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to m ...

s (a version of swarming). Incidents of destruction of public property, looting, and intimidation for bandhs, hartals and dharnas were published and listed geographically as travel information in newspaper articles. Articles also highlighted politicians and victims of rioting during the protests. Although not advisable, late summer travel by airline and vehicle during the protests was possible without delays, between capitals New Delhi and Chandigarh, and Shimla for example.

Police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

prevented extending the range and duration of the strikes, and some strike activity from even occurring. A national state of emergency was largely not declared to mobilize army units against any one demonstration.. The strike helped to give large popularity to

report and fueled the political grouping of the OBC castes, which later helped a lot for the strengthening of regional political parties and stronger parties other than

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

and

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

Self immolations

Rajiv Goswami Rajiv Goswami (12 June 1971 - 24 February 2004) was a commerce student at the Deshbandhu College, Delhi University who came into prominence when he attempted self-immolation on 19 September 1990 to protest against Prime Minister V.P. Singh's imp ...

Rajiv Goswami was the first student to attempt self-immolation while a student at

Deshbandhu College Deshbandhu College ( hi, देशबंधु कॉलेज) is a college established in 1952 and affiliated to University of Delhi. Deshbandhu College was established in 1953 by the Ministry of Rehabilitation, as a memorial to freedom fig ...

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

in October, 1990 to protest against

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

V.P. Singh's implementation of the

laws for Affirmative Action (reservation) recommendations. His action sparked a series of self-immolations by college students and led to a formidable movement against job reservations for backward classes, as recommended by the Mandal Commission. He was later elected as the President of Delhi University's Student Union, he died after about a decade of suffering because of the 70% burns he had suffered.

Popular culture

* 2010 TV series ''

Armanon Ka Balidaan-Aarakshan ''Armanon Ka Balidaan-Aarakshan'' is an Indian political thriller television series aired on Imagine TV. The show was set during the period of the Mandal Commission protests of 1990. The show garnered controversy for airing promos containing p ...

'' had backdrop of these protests. * ''

Hurdang ''Hurdang'' is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat. The film stars Sunny Kaushal, Nushrratt Bharuccha and Vijay Varma. It is a love story set in the backdrop of the student agitation of 1990 in All ...

'' (2022) by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat is set in the backdrop of the protests.

References

{{Reservation in India Conflicts in 1990 1990 in India Reservation in India Protests in India V. P. Singh administration