Over the past couple of months, organisations representing the Kayastha community have stepped up their activities in a bid to be heard at both the national and state levels. These organisations have not only started advertising in newspapers but also become more active at the district level in many states. According to community leaders, there is a growing awareness that votebank politics — mainly reservations — has left the Kayasthas out in the cold. ‘‘In the past one year, things have started looking up. People are getting organised. They feel left out because other communities are united and get a lot of benefits,’’ says Pramod Srivastava, who runs the Kayastha Parivar website and is involved in setting up a Kayastha organisation in Maharashtra. The reservation policy has made it more diffult for the members of the community to join government jobs which was their mainstay. The community of 8 crore has a presence in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharastra, Bengal and Orissa. It has traditionally been taking up government jobs or working as lawyers and doctors. Bihar and UP put together have a strength of 80 lakh Kayasthas, Madhya Pradesh 30 lakhs and Bengal 85 lakhs. Srivastava said he had also approached Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray — who belongs to the community — through his son, Raj, to form an organisation in Maharastra. In Mumbai alone there are already a dozen Kayastha organisations. ‘‘If we create a pocket where all Kayasthas get together, we will become a force to be reckoned with, influencing policies at the national and state level,’’ he added. His website, Kayastha Parivar, which was started two years ago, is now receiving 2,000 hits daily, up from an initial 750. This growing awareness within the community comes at a time when there are a number of ministers from the community in the Cabinet, including information and broadcasting minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, foreign minister Yashwant Sinha and shippig minister Shatrughan Sinha. A fourth Kayastha, Rita Verma, lost her cabinet berth in the last reshuffle. ‘‘There is some kind of a community feeling that seems to be growing,’’ said Ravi Shankar Prasad. In other parts of the country, the Akhil Bharatiya Kayastha Mahasabha — a 120-year-old umbrella organisation — has stepped up its activities recently in a bid to unite the scattered community. The social organisation has its branches in 500 districts and it is growing. In the past couple of years, its strength has grown from a handful to over a lakh. ‘‘There is a desire to fight for rights. The community is waking up to the fact that their jobs and rights are being snatched away by others,’’ said Kailash Narayan Sarang, president of the Mahasabha and an ex-MP from Bhopal and ex-BJP treasurer. Their main demand is that reservations be either abolished or the community be given 33 per cent in Government jobs. Other Kayastha organisations have also made this demand.The Mahasabha is in the process of making a serial on Chitragupta Maharaja and has formed a film company to see the project through. ‘‘There is a resurgence and growing awareness that we have to fight for our rights,’’ said R.N.Sahay, vice-president of the Mahasabha.
