Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Credit: DH File Photo
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s plan to take a relook into the A J Sadashiva Commission report on internal reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) has left the Congress divided.
While Congress’ SC (Left) leaders have mounted pressure on the government to act fast, the SC (Right) in the party is pushing it back.
The SC (Right) wants a fresh study to determine adequacy of representation to sub-classified SCs, pointing out that the previous BJP government had rejected the Sadashiva panel’s recommendations.
A senior Congress leader told DH that the Cabinet, early this year, had decided to pass the buck on providing internal reservation among SCs to the union government, asking it to amend the Constitution to allow state governments to provide internal reservation.
“The government is in a bind over the recent Supreme Court ruling, which allowed states to have power on deciding internal quota. The SC (Right) as well as touchable Dalits - Bhovis, Lambani, Korcha-Korma - are up against the CM’s announcement to relook into the report,” the leader said.
Speaking to DH, Congress MLC Prakash Rathod, a Lambani leader, wondered how the government could take a relook at the report when the previous government had dismissed it as “irrelevant and closed”. He asserted that several Dalit communities had opposed its implementation.
“The ruling has not brought joy to any dalit group. Several dalit leaders like Chirag Paswan and Mayawati have opposed it. Like-minded dalit groups will soon meet and decide the future course of action, such as filing review petition in the Supreme Court. We will appeal to the state government to constitute another committee to gather empirical data on SC/STs in the state, before announcing internal reservations,” the MLC said.
If the state wants to have internal reservations, it will have to be done with fresh data.
Even the caste census report submitted by the Backward Classes Commission will not be accurate, he said.
“We will shortly meet the chief minister and demand that he constitute a new committee to assess the data of SCs/STs, besides defining the creamy layer as the Supreme Court has stated in its ruling,” Rathod said.