Editorial: Hollow words

After keeping mum for nearly a decade, the BJP govt’s promise to do justice to the Madiga community rings hollow

The demand for sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes for the purpose of reservations has support from the entire political spectrum. It’s a just cause as it ensures fair distribution of reservation benefits to various sub-groups within the Dalit community. Despite such a broad political consensus, the issue has been hanging fire since 2004 when a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court struck down a legislation passed by the then combined Andhra Pradesh Assembly, categorising SCs into four groups — A, B, C and D — on the basis of their population and social backwardness. After decades of delay, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election eve announcement that the Centre would soon set up a sub-committee on SC classification rings hollow. After keeping mum for nearly a decade, the NDA government is now promising to do justice to the Madiga community which has been demanding sub-categorisation. The BJP, which had in the run-up to the 2014 general election promised to complete the classification of SC reservations within 100 days of assuming power, has conveniently forgotten about it. The Congress’ approach too has been suspect. Had the grand old party been committed to the issue, it should have delivered in 2009 — when it was in power both in Andhra Pradesh and at the Centre. Madigas’ long-standing quest for justice needs to be fulfilled without any further delay. After assuming power in 2014 in Telangana, the BRS government forwarded two resolutions passed in the Telangana Assembly to the union government while its MPs led protests in Parliament pressing for SC sub-categorisation.

The three-decade-old movement, spearheaded by the Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS), has seen many ups and downs and has significantly influenced the political discourse in favour of equitable distribution of the reservation pie among various caste groups. Those demanding the classification of SCs based on education, income and social status believe that it would help give a leg up to the socially and educationally backward Madiga community. The MRPS has been following it up with the central government through several representations. In November 2016, M Venkaiah Naidu, in the capacity of union minister, attended an MRPS meeting to reiterate his government’s commitment towards Madigas. However, seven years later, the issue remains unresolved. A commission set up in 1996, under the chairmanship of Justice P Ramachandra Raju, confirmed the yawning disparities in the utilisation of reservations among Dalit sub-groups, recommending categorisation of SCs based on their population for the purpose of reservations. It suggested that Dalits in Andhra Pradesh be categorised into four groups on the basis of the level of backwardness and population. Later in 2007, the Justice Usha Mehra Commission, constituted by the union government, also proposed categorisation among Dalits to ensure fair distribution of reservation benefits. The matter is now under the consideration of the larger Constitution Bench of the apex court.

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