In its first Cabinet meeting after coming to power for the third time in Haryana, the BJP government decided to implement the Dalit quota order ordered by the Supreme Court in August, which will affect Scheduled Castes in the state when it becomes law. . The provision of reservation can be implemented by dividing the people according to the degree of backwardness. The question is why the Haryana government took such an approach when Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised the party’s Dalit MPs not to implement the Supreme Court order. Is it a step? Does the BJP government expect to bring benefits in the upcoming assembly elections by implementing this move? But won’t this backfire on the BJP in the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand?
1-What is happening in Haryana?
The BJP’s sweep of Haryana in the recent assembly elections is believed to be linked to the party’s success in dividing the Dalit vote. This move by the Nayab Singh Saini government may help it further strengthen its control over 36 backward castes such as Valmiki, Bazigar, Sansi, Castes under the Deha, Dhanak and Sapera castes include many Dalits besides the Jatav community. It is requested that a sub-quota of 20% of total SC reservation be given in Haryana so that they can better enjoy the benefits of reservation in government jobs. The BJP has assured many local non-Jatav Dalit castes that it will implement the Supreme Court ruling if it wins the election. After the cabinet decision, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said that our government respects the Supreme Court’s order.
On August 1, in a historic 6:1 verdict, the Supreme Court allowed the subdivision of reserved castes so that the most backward groups among Dalits can reap the benefits of quotas. In Haryana, a group called Dalit-e Mahapanchayat, led by Devi Das Valmiki of Jind, has been demanding quota within SC reservations for years. In March 2020, keeping this demand of the Dalit community in mind, the Haryana Assembly passed a bill to create quota within the SC quota for new deprived scheduled caste categories in higher education institutions in the state. Welcoming the Haryana government’s decision, Valmiki said it was a good decision taken after a long delay. The BJP government should have taken this decision earlier as the party had promised to subdivide the SC before the 2009 and 2014 assembly elections.
2- How important is the division of Dalit voters for the BJP in the Maharashtra assembly elections?
Maharashtra has long been waging a movement demanding quotas for Scheduled Castes. Currently, Scheduled Castes enjoy 13% reservation in education and jobs. Hindu Dalit organizations claim that Buddhist Dalits – who were early members of the Mahar community and converted to Buddhism along with Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in 1956 – receive most of the Dalit quota benefits, While other groups suffered losses. Maharashtra has 59 castes listed in the SC category, with the highest number of Buddhist Dalits. Overall, scheduled castes make up about 13% of the state’s population.
Last year, Maharashtra took to the streets over its demand for Dalit sub-quota. On February 22 last year, Matang community organizations staged a protest in Mumbai against the demand. All India Matang Sangh working president Fakira Ukarande wants the current 13% SC quota to be divided into four sub-categories: A, B, C and D.
It is noteworthy that the total number of scheduled castes in Maharashtra is 13.2 million. Among them, there are 6.5 million Buddhist Dalits, 4 million Madang people and 1.5 million Jatta people. It is alleged that Buddhist Dalits get a major part of the schemes and reservations made for the benefit of Dalits. In Maharashtra, political parties such as the Republican Party of India have been opposing the idea of split quotas. Apparently, by carving out Dalits, the BJP hopes to reap benefits like those in Haryana.
3-The opposition will make it an issue and will prove to be against Dalits
It is unclear what the status quo is between the country’s two major political parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, regarding Dalit quota. Immediately after the Supreme Court ruling, the chief ministers of the two Congress-ruled states welcomed the decision and promised that Telangana and Karnataka will now conduct recruitment only by enforcing all quotas. But later, due to the change in attitude of the BJP, the Congress became silent. The Supreme Court’s decision was also initially supported by some BJP leaders. But later it seemed that the government had no intention of implementing this decision.
But the BJP has taken a different stance on Dalit sub-quota. Apparently Congress will fight back in the same way. Congress might call it a conspiracy to murder the Constitution. The BJP suffered a heavy blow over the slogan of “Save Reservation – Save Constitution” raised in the Lok Sabha elections. Even after the defeat in Haryana, Rahul Gandhi remained steadfast in his slogan of saving the Constitution.
For now, Dalit luminaries in the country are against this division, whatever the stance of the BJP and the Congress. Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati challenged the Supreme Court’s classification order. Mayawati asks, political oppression is nothing compared to social oppression? Have the country’s tens of millions of Dalits and tribals moved on from hatred and discrimination to lives of self-respect and dignity? If not, how fair is the distribution of reservations between these caste-based classes that are broken and left behind? BR Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar has said that if any subdivision of these reserved groups has to be done, it should be done by the Congress. The Supreme Court’s decision to allow states to subdivide scheduled castes is a victory for those groups who have been demanding it.
Bhim Army founder and Kanshi Ram leader Chandrashekhar Azad said it was a divide and rule policy. Expressing concern over the Supreme Court verdict, Samastipur Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) MP Shambhavi Chaudhary said, “I think it is unfair as the concept of creamy layer applies only to OBCs.” The reservation itself is for social representation Rather than being implemented for the sake of economic backwardness. Union Minister Chirag Paswan and his party in the central government are also strongly opposed to the implementation of the Supreme Court order. However, NDA allies such as JDU and Telugu Desam supported the Supreme Court’s decision.