New Delhi: The Supreme Court judgement in favour of sub categorisation of SC/ST quota has put the BJP in a tight spot with its Dalit leaders raising question marks and its ally Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) announcing to appeal against the order.
The BJP leaders, especially from the Hindi belt like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, are questioning the court’s creamy layer formula as ‘illogical’ and ‘absurd’. Additionally, the party itself is divided with the dominant SC leaders against the decision while those from the weaker sections of Dalit welcoming it but unhappy with the creamy layer cutoff.
Another section feels that the order is a setback to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Hindutva project as the Sangh was working for fostering unity among the Dalits and tribals on a broad Hindutva framework. “Such a decision will cause disintegration and create more caste divisions, which is not good for the Hindutva project of RSS and BJP,” a BJP leader said.
What makes it tough is that allies like Chandra Babu Naidu’s TDP, Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) have supported the decision.
In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP lost significant non-Jatav votes and the tally went down to 33 due to shift of Dalit votes to the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress.The BJP’s share of non-Jatav votes went down from 48 percent to 29 percent whereas it improved from 17 percent to 24 percent of Jatav votes.
Arun Kumar Sagar, the lone Jatav BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh, said that the judgement would divide the Dalit community.
“We respect the Supreme Court but its decision is not right as it will divide the Dalits. The Jatavs voted for the BJP in assembly and general elections. Our people are still not getting enough opportunity in education and service, and they are not empowered like others,“ the Shahjahanpur MP said.
Similarly, BJP’s Madhya Pradesh SC Morcha chief Kailash Jatav said that the decision was against the basic premise of giving reservation to the underprivileged.
“The economic consideration was the basis of the court decision but untouchability is still prevalent in the society. educational benefit has not reached every Dalit subgroup. Even the dominant Dalit sub-groups have not reaped benefits. How will the state decide quota within quota without a caste census…? The overall decision is divisive,” Jatav added.
The Dalits make up 16 percent of the population in Madhya Pradesh with Jatavs comprising 8 percent of it. Unlike in Uttar Pradesh, the Jatavs mostly voted for the BJP in the recent Lok Sabha election. Any reduction in Jatav’s share of reservation can upset the BJP’s Dalit arithmetic in the state.
“The Centre suggested the court leave the issue to states, knowing the political ramifications of the decision as one Dalit group supports the BJP in one state but it may not be in another state like in the case of Jatavs. The party can’t risk annoying one caste at the cost of another. The Paswans vote for the BJP in Bihar along with other weaker Dalit groups. The BJP got votes from numerically weaker Dalit groups in many states, but many dominant Dalit groups supported the BJP in other states,” a senior BJP leader told ThePrint.
The party wants to empower every disadvantaged group, but it can’t risk losing the support of dominant sub group of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, he added.
“The Dalit groups have threatened to start agitation if their share of quota is disturbed. How will share be decided without a caste census? … Such decisions will create more confusion among Dalits. And it will lead to another narrative of Constitution change,” Kailash Meghwal, BJP head of SC Morcha in Rajasthan, said.
The Meghwals, a SC group, are already opposing the SC decision and threatened to go on agitation if the Rajasthan government disturbs quota. While the Dalit population is pegged at 17.2 percent in Rajasthan, the Meghwals are said to constitute about 50 percent of the entire SC communities.
In Bihar, where Chirag Paswan has already spoken out against the decision, Bihar BJP SC Morcha Lokendra Paswan lamented that the court decision was done based on economic parameters while not considering other factors. “(But) even the dominant SC groups have not benefited from reservation yet,” the BJP leader said.
The BJP gained Paswan votes due to alliance with Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP and support from other Dalit groups like Musahar and Dhobhi through Nitish Kumar’s social engineering. Now, Paswans are protesting against the decision, while other groups of less advantaged groups of Bihar, including Manjhi, a Musahar, are supporting the court decision.
Although many in the party welcomed the SC decision saying distribution will help other disadvantaged groups, former MP Sanjay Paswan feels there has to be a certain caveat.
“I feel that the basis (of quota benefit) should be family, not any caste, group. … It should be applicable to those Dalit families which have benefited from reservation in the last three generations. I gave the slogan that no more than four generations (should benefit). In my family, I became a minister and my son is a professor. The fourth generation in my family should not get reservation,“ the Bihar leader said.
BJP MP Anoop Pradhan, a Balmiki from Uttar Pradesh, said redistribution is good but the creamy layer cut off is not right as most weaker sections have not got benefit of reservation yet.
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‘Creamy layer not justified for Dalits, tribals’
BJP’s Lokendra Paswan said that many organisations are protesting against the decision in Bihar and added that most of them are asking for a review. “The party will look into it but as the Morcha head, I have to articulate what our community’s feelings are. How can creamy layer be applied to Dalits when they are still to come at par with other sections? How many Paswans and Mushars are IAS and how many are from the Pasi community? First, we have to think over these issues before implementing creamy layer cutoff in Dalit and ST reservation,” he said.
Former Jharkhand DGP Vishnu Dayal Ram, the BJP MP from Palamu, said every caste group should get the benefit of quota redistribution, as dominant groups take away most of the benefits. “But it can’t be compared with the OBC creamy layer; the comparison with OBC reservation is not appropriate. … The Dalits and the tribals are still far away from the empowered OBCs,” he said.
The gain from the decision is more in South India as the numerically weaker sections have been supporting the BJP, a fact made amply clear by Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai tweeted favouring categorisation. The BJP is eyeing support of the Madigas in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
“The party can get more support from the weaker Dalit group in South India as it doesn’t get votes of the dominant SC groups. But it can inflict a loss in North India if it is not implemented cautiously. There can be another Constitution change debate, as the party’s main base is in North India,” a BJP leader said.
Social scientist Badrinarayan asserted that the BJP might get more support in South India but it has to tread carefully in the North so as to not annoy any key support group. “In UP, Mayawati who opposed the decision can get a new life by uniting the Jatavs, and it can damage the BJP, which is eying Jatavs and other Dalit sub groups. Even in Bihar, the BJP may suffer as there are Paswans and other SC groups. It has to strike a balance between the two groups to get Dalit support,” he said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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