A new storm, a byproduct of Jantar Mantar protest is brewing !! Upper caste Hindus now 'oppose' Quota politics

 How CJP's protest became fodder for anti-reservation stir

Rage over caste reservation spills onto streets; Karni Sena vows no vote

From Nagpur to Lucknow to Jaipur and Visakhapatnam, 

anti-reservation protests are being reported from several cities even as a parallel campaign against caste-based quotas is gathering pace online. 

With Assembly elections approaching in multiple states, the growing chorus against reservation could reopen India's most politically sensitive fault lines.

The anti-reservation debate found a fresh audience during the NEET protests. 

People claimed that most of the NEET aspirants who died by suicide after the paper leak in May were from the General category.

The CJP's protest against paper leaks has birthed and provided a template for an anti-reservation movement. This is why the protests over the NEET-UG paper leak reopened the debate on the quota system, one of India's most politically explosive and socially fissile issues. And this comes just ahead of the election in Uttar Pradesh.

Police use water cannons to disperse activists of the OBC Mahasabha during a protest over the reservation issue, in Bhopal, on July 20.   

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) got what it wanted — Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation. The month-long agitation over NEET paper leak and alleged irregularities in the examination system has to come to an end. 

The protests are over. The barricades at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar are gone. 

But a new storm, a byproduct of the CJP protest itself, might be brewing.  

The unexpected byproduct of the CJP protest is an anti-reservation campaign, which is gathering pace. It threatens to reopen the politically explosive and socially fissile issue of caste-based reservations in India.

Over the past few days, social media has seen an explosion of posts, reels and campaigns, spearheaded by the CJP-styled online platform, the Reservation Hatao Andolan (RHA). The Instagram handle, with its first post from six days ago, now has over 5.8 million followers. As the name suggests, it's demanding an overhaul, or even abolition, of caste-based reservations in India.

Anti Reservation stir affected V P Singh's career 

The timing is tricky and could prove to be troublesome for several political stakeholders. 

The anti-reservation movement, and a brewing polarising environment, even as the CJP-led protests raged on in New Delhi, months after the UGC equity regulations sparked nationwide unrest, could further polarise public discourse. This must have discomfited the government. That too, with the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election just months away. 

And, in India's largest state, caste is the king.

Over the past few weeks, a series of seemingly unrelated incidents has hinted at the emergence of a broader sentiment.

Online, the anti-reservation campaign has found a growing rallying point. The Reservation Hatao Andolan (RHA) Instagram page, which began gaining traction as the CJP protests wound down, now has around 5.9 million followers, amplifying voices against caste-based quotas and calling for their rationalisation. 

The RHA also held its first on-ground protest in Maharashtra's Nagpur last week.

Days later, an agitation by the members of the Shri Rajput Karni Sena, a group of the Rajputs, in Jaipur turned tense. 

They took to the streets and clashed with police over the now-stayed UGC's caste equity regulations. One death has been alleged. 

Karni Sena leaders have sworn in the names of their revered deities not to vote for the BJP in the local body polls.