Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Why I support categorisation in reservation for Scheduled castes : Ish Kumar Gangania, Author and Editor, Samay Sangyan


Let us Unite, Hug each other tightly and support the cause of the marginalised


Ish Kumar Gangania is a well-respected author, thinker and editor based in Delhi. He is known for his blunt and to the point responses. Gangania has written enormously on India’s rationalist traditions of Ajeevak and Lokayat. With over 25 books published so far including Collections of Poetry, short stories and one novel, the latest in this series is his autobiographical work ‘Main Aur Mera Gireban’. He has been sub-editor of the renowned Hindi quarterly Journal ‘Apeksha’ for over eight years and Editor of ‘Aajivak Vision’ a bilingual monthly magazine. Presently, He is working as the editor of ‘Samay Sangyan’ a quarterly Hindi journal, carrier of Ambedkarite philosophy and literary criticism.

Ish Kumar Gangania explains an Ambedkarite response to the issue of Classification of reservation as per Supreme Court verdict, in this wide ranging conversation with Vidya Bhushan Rawat.

 

What is your reaction to the Supreme Court's decision on the classification of SC-ST reservation?

 

 

The responses at first glance to this decision have heated the atmosphere. There is a strange noise everywhere, an atmosphere of rumors that the Supreme Court has abolished reservation. They go around like, ‘The Supreme Court has played with reservation with the current government's support’. ‘It is part of the process of ending the reservation’. However, it can be termed as completely irresponsible statement, a rhetoric. I agree with Yogendra Yadav's comment, 'Reservation has not ended with this decision but has become stronger.' It is today's truth; it cannot be denied. If tomorrow, it becomes a tool to find an opportunity in a disaster then anything can happen. But we should also not forget that the present era is an era of rumors, building conspiracy theories and immorality being presented as morality. Similarly, treason being presented as patriotism. Often, the truth does not reach the innocent masses of the country as the masks of political masters or the media that have mortgaged themselves for the flattery alone in the name of journalists. If we look at the current episode with this perspective of suspicion, then the court's decision has come at such a time when there are elections in some of the states. It’s simple meaning is that the people who had turned against the current system can be used again to find opportunities in disaster based on flowery speeches and rhetoric.

 

In such a situation, the so-called leaders of the society come to the election battlefield with new masks to trade the innocent people's Sentiments, trade their votes and become magnets fit for the feet of Khadi-clad actors. If we understand the current decision of the Supreme Court on reservation in simple terms, during the hearing of the case by the 7-judge bench on August 1, DY Chandrachud clearly said that just as OBCs have been classified into backward and most backward classes, similarly, while giving their opinion, 4 out of 7 judges have opined that such a system can be opted about SC-ST so that substantial equality can be ensured. Substantial equality means those deprived of the benefits of the reservation should get a sub-quota to compensate for the loss the previous provisions failed to provide. This decision is not binding, and the court has issued guidelines to the states to ensure justice reasonably. The process ensured must be transparent and free from anomalies. As far as the issue of the creamy layer is concerned, almost all the political parties have opposed it and considered it impractical and against the essential spirit of reservation mentioned in the constitution. The second issue of this decision is the issue of sub-categorisation of reservations.

 

The people from SC-ST who benefited from the previously existing reservation provisions are angry, rather out of their mind. Those deprived of the benefits of early reservation perks for years are naturally happy and should be. I am not in favour of naming castes; hence, I have been in favour of subdivision of reservation for the poor of the poorest for years. It may sound bitter, but the person or group of persons, against the current provisions of subcategorisation, must be devoid of empathy and other human qualities. Great thinkers who claim to be staunch Ambedkarites should understand that their arguments to counter the subcategorisation of reservation quota have no other flavour than arguments that the so-called upper caste society always kept on reciting against Dr Ambedkar during the freedom movement. When Baba Saheb raised his voice for social justice, the people of the upper strata accused him of going against the freedom movement. They called him anti-freedom movement. It was not enough to satisfy their ego; they accused Dr Ambedkar of being a supporter/puppet of the British. He was even accused of being a traitor to the country. What we see happening today is that the leading Dalit communities, significant lion beneficiaries share of reservation quota, are reacting like those who were blaming Baba Sahab, the most selfish, heartless and the person who had no sentiments for Indian freedom and unity of the freedom fighters. The potential beneficiaries of the subcategorisation of the new reservation provisions are being suspected and looked upon as enemies. I can say with full responsibility that whatever absurd things the leading Dalits are engaged in against the so-called poor Dalits in the name of Ambedkarism can never be Ambedkarites. It is painful to mention that Dr Ambedkar coined the term 'fissiparous', i.e. dualists for those who show malicious feelings, I mean vomit venom. No genuine Ambedkarite can stand with such a poor person.

 

 While most parties have openly opposed the creamy layer principle, the divisions among Dalit groups are now out in the open. Numerically strong communities insist that classification should not be allowed, but marginalised communities like the Balmikis or the traditionally manual scavenging communities, the Mushahars, Doms, and Madigas, are adamant that they should get separate quotas. What is your view on this?

 

Firstly, talking about the creamy layer is pointless, as it still needs to be achieved in Dalit society. Secondly, it is inevitable that everyone is undoubtedly against the creamy layer and wants it to be implemented differently. Almost all political parties have also reacted against it. However, the most controversial issue is sub classification. The agitating lawyers of the Supreme Court do not consider it a decision as per the constitution as they consider it a decision based on personal opinion of the judges. That is why they say, "We want the opinion of the constitution. We do not want any judgment based on opinion. (By the way, everyone knows that in the Ayodhya case, the Constitutional Bench had considered the demolition of Babri Masjid a criminal act, but the decision came based on public opinion/sentiments. Such opinion/sentiments-based activities, which have increased a lot these days, do not favour the basic spirit of the constitution. It seems against the rule of the constitution.  During their protest, they also made a fallacious argument: "If they (judiciary) are concerned about the Valmikis, why don't they make the daily wages/temporary jobs existing more than 10-20 years, permanent? Why have they been kept on contract for years?"

Dalit writer, Chandrabhan Prasad says, 'this sub-classification is a campaign against the Chamar and Mahar regiments'. He further adds that ‘If sub-classification occurs, Chamar, Mahar etc., will not take an interest in the struggle for reservation, and the reservation will end’. He believes if Chamar befalls weak, the reservation will end, or it will go beyond protection. He accepts that division has already happened at the subconscious and mental levels. In his flow, Chandrabhan Prasad does not escape from being included in the category of sophistry in glorifying the leading castes of Dalits. He says - 'Pasi community used to have more land than Chamars. Brahmin class used to go to the Pasi community for Katha and weddings. When the Valmiki community, Dhobi community and Khatik community got money, they became happy with that much; but they did not move forward much towards education.' These arguments are the arguments that casteist/dominant society has been using to break the morale of the marginalised society. He tries to establish 'How hardworking we are and how useless you are.' I am helpless for not being restricted from commenting on this attitude of Mr Prasad, which sounds anti-Ambedkarism.

Mr Prasad is on cloud nine due to his arrogance, and he teaches Ambedkarism on the following lines—'First of all, people of Chamar, Jatav, Dohre, Ravidas, Mahar, Mala castes considered Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar as an ideal and paid maximum attention to education. Because earlier, the calendars bearing Baba Saheb's photo were mostly hung in the houses of Chamar, Mahar, and Mala castes, and the calendars had painted them - 'Educate, Agitate and Organize.' The Mantra of education reached the people concerned, and they enjoyed the fruit. Baba Saheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar's thoughts mean attending school, college, and university. When there is education, you will develop. Those who became Ambedkarites, left behind many evils that were prevalent in society. When they left those dirty jobs, they also faced livelihood problems, so they went to big cities like Delhi, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Calcutta, etc., worked in big factories, and kept educating their children.' Here, I have an innocent question for Prasad Sahab - 'Why did the Ambedkarites not ideologically educate and train the castes and communities constantly lagging in society? Shouldn't it be assumed that the upper castes of the Dalit society treated these backward castes with untouchability like the so-called upper castes? Why did they not play the role of an elder brother? Now, when sub-categorisation has come up, why oppose it? Chandrabhan Prasad categorically states that if they had adopted Ambedkarism, they would also have been with the advanced Dalits. I want to clarify this point: If the poor Dalits could have followed Baba Sabab, like Mr Prasad, they would have shared reservation benefits like the other leading castes of Dalits. In that case, they could have a larger share in their favour. Naturally, the leading Dalits would have lost enough of what they possess today due to weaker sections' awareness. But now, when the time has come to share reservations after so many years, why so much hue, and cry on sub classification? I don't find any logic or morality in opposing the beneficiaries of the subcategories in the reservation. When Ambedkarites are constantly fighting against the casteist character of Indian society, then what is the compulsion of Prasad Saheb that he is bound to teach the alphabet of casteism to the potential beneficiaries of sub-classification reservation? It is fair enough if the intellectuals respect the public sentiments, and They must leave the folly of duping the public solely for the politicians.

 

A study reveals, "Despite getting equal reservation opportunities in education and jobs, a group of castes has lagged, has not been able to progress, while a tiny group of other castes in the same category has progressed a lot. After this decision, it is now possible for the state governments to sub-categorise the SC castes in their states. And decide how the reservation given to SC should reach among the SC castes. Some castes will now get preferential treatment, those who need it. I request Mr Chandrabhan and his opinion makers not to issue Fatwas like – 'The fighting Dalit castes against Manuism/Manuvadies in different states are aware of their rights. If such castes get separated, then definitely in 10-20 years, the reservation will get abolished in the name of 'Not Found Suitable (NFS)'. I think the beneficiaries of sub-categorisation are not the obstacles in the unity of Ambedkar's 'Broken People'. The problem is that the intellectuals repeatedly revisited casteist sophistry.

 

 

 

There is no doubt that the fight for jobs, especially in the government sector, only shows how much we depend on them, while it is a known fact that these jobs have gone down to zero since the 1990s. Privatisation is increasing, and public sector undertakings have been made available for sale to private entities. LIC, nationalised banks, and railways are also moving towards privatisation, but we have never heard strong voices from intellectuals and leaders except for a few exceptions. Leftist trade unions have started the most significant fight against these, but in most cases, SC/ST trade unions feel uncomfortable working with them. Privatisation began in the 1990s, but we did not hear much opposition from Ambedkarite groups. Some of them supported it.

 

Rawat ji, you are correct that these jobs have significantly reduced after the 1990s. However, there have been miserable conditions of unemployment since 2014. Everyone knows what is being sold to end reservations, to whom it is being sold, and why it is being sold. Everyone also knows that the government has set a new trend to employ their faithful ones in the name of lateral entry, which prepares fertile ground for thousands of other beneficiaries and the government. Everyone knows of it and the implications of a 10 per cent special quota, which is a particular reservation for the upper caste society.  

 

Regarding demanding jobs or completing pending reservation quotas, Ambedkarites are of the same flesh and blood as justice advocates; when almost all the political parties are on their knees out of fear or something else, and when the world-renowned and influential farmers' movement has nearly lost its foothold, how can Ambedkarites dare to face the insensitive government to claim their rights for jobs? As far as the question of Ambedkarites' cooperation in the movement with leftist trade unions is concerned, Ambedkarites could not win the trust of the leftists even today, as the question of caste appears almost dumb in the leftist movement.

 

Another big reason may be that Ambedkarites also present excellent examples of blind devotion to Baba Sahab. For example – 'On 12.12.1945 in Nagpur, Dr Ambedkar criticised the Marxists because they talked about joining the Congress instead of forming a separate party of their workers. He says – Beware of the Communists. The Scheduled Caste Federation is the only true representative organisation of the Scheduled Castes.' There can be many more examples of Baba Saheb discussing separating himself from Marxists on other socio-political issues. For the self-proclaimed Ambedkarites, such things are like a line set in stone; even if Dr Ambedkar returns alive and claims to change the line/stand, he couldn't.

 

In the current scenario of sub classification, the so-called Ambedkarites are holding on to the same line, claiming that ‘if Baba wanted, he could have arranged separate reservations for Mahars, but he didn't. How can they accept subcategorisation? It would be against the unity of the broken people, the Dalits’. However, the existing Ambedkarites, could do much on the issue of sub-divisions if it could favour them in terms of profit. They seem to be better bargainers than Dr Baba Sahab Ambedkar, who devoted his life to uplifting society and humanity rather than his personal monetary and positional gains hence, they will do nothing about the reservation or sub-division.

 

Could the politicians and intellectuals have done more to assuage the feelings of those communities who feel neglected in the entire reservation structure? Are these intellectuals behaving like spokespersons of political parties? Today, the Dalit movement seems wholly divided, and the marginalised groups feel that the most prominent villains in their development are their brothers and sisters.

 

This is a matter worth highlighting in itself. There is an undeclared agreement between the politicians and the intellectuals (I am not talking about exceptions). Their world has left them confined to scratching each other's backs. Therefore, there is no reliable standard for their language, intellect, and morality. Prasad Ji believes - 'Some castes are very happy about the categorization. They should understand that if the Chamar, Mahar, and Mala community becomes weak, then who will fight. Those who are pretending to work in favour of Dalits and say that the sub-categorisation is right, such people are the ones who applaud if a Dalit rides a donkey and shower lathis on him if a Dalit rides a horse.'

 

He further explains, ‘Even today, people from the Dalit communities have to struggle to enter a temple. They have to fight when they ride a horse as a groom. They have an issue if a Dalit grows a good moustache and they fight with him’. And he warns, ‘all of you should get the reservation completed first otherwise, no matter how powerful you are, you will have no power. When even the president of the country was not allowed to enter a temple, what could we have expected from such a society? What is to expect from the Supreme Court, which seems dominated by only one caste." The simple meaning of this is that the claimants of sub-division should leave the fight for sub-quota and start fighting to get the reservation completed. As a result, "there will be no issue of any controversy. Everything would go on the previous track, favouring the dominant castes. It is worth noting that whatever decisions the political parties make, they do so to ensure their vote bank. They have nothing to do with real/universal justice. Those who get elected to Parliament or Legislative Assemblies are also more or less beneficiaries of Dalit reservation quotas; that is why they are silent and want to continue reservation on the old track. Instead of speaking their language, they get the work done through their mouthpieces, i.e., the intellectuals/Ambenkarites. They are under pressure from their party bosses and their guidelines. It is a matter of bargaining for victory or defeat, not justice. They have to do politics by riding on the back of the public, not wiping their tears or applying ointment on their wounds, which they are not used to thinking of as their job. It reminds me of the situation of Muslims who have been sitting like an ostrich with their face buried in the sand for a long time and are silent even on mob-lynching; they are silent on the demolition of Babri Masjid. Despite knowing that the act of demolition of the Babri mosque was a criminal act, no one even uttered a word when the Supreme Court allowed the land to Ram agitators.

 

I think that, more or less today, the situation of the beneficiaries of the sub-categorisation of reservation has also become the same as that of Indian Muslims. We can say that the dominating marginalised groups feel the most prominent villains in their development are their brothers and sisters. They can neither swallow nor spit anything harrowing and unpleasant; now, it is time to decide how the camel turns its side. In such a fiery atmosphere, great thinkers like Chandrabhan, pointing towards the Valmikis about sub-classification, comment- 'They want to get guns for those who do not know how to use it.' This language of traditional casteists who are in the habit of such a language against the whole marginalised society ever since the reservation came into existence. Should readers decide whether our intellectuals pour petrol or water on the fire?

 

Leaving aside the fact that various communities have demanded sub-quotas, an old demand, why is there so much opposition? The entire focus of the dominant communities and their spokespersons has been that the Brahmins and upper castes are trying to divide them. Suppose the upper castes want divided SCs; what have these leaders and intellectuals done to bring them together? You cannot solve any problem by just blaming Brahmins for everything? Is it not Brahminism when you treat your brothers and sisters in the same way? You call them on your so-called news channels and humiliate them? Is this the way to bring equality and unity?

 

The issue of sub-classification is not new, according to one piece of information—'In 1975, the Giyani Jail Singh government of Congress in Punjab had decided to give half the quota of seats (first preference) in the SC category to Mazhabi Sikh and Valmiki castes, this continued till 2006, when the Punjab and Haryana Court put a stay on it. Then, a huge movement took place in Punjab against it. To keep the quota for Valmiki and Mazhabi Sikh, the Congress government of Amarinder Singh brought the Punjab Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes (Reservation in Services) Act, 2006.'

 

Another piece of information can also be shared in this context—' In 2010, on the challenge of Devinder Singh of Chamar Mahasabha, the High Court stayed Section 4(5) of giving 50% quota. In 2010, the Punjab government went to the Supreme Court. Then, this case went from a bench of 5 judges to a bench of 7 judges, and the hearing of this Devinder Singh vs Punjab Government case started in February 2024. In this case, the decision to give the state the freedom of classification came on August 1. The court can also investigate the status of castes given quota by the state.'

Let's look at reservations from the perspective of blogger Akash Singh (August 5 2024). India is one of the few countries where the right to equality became essential as soon as the constitution came into power. In many Western countries, discrimination based on skin colour or gender continued till modern times. After a long movement, the constitution was amended, new laws were made, and all citizens were considered equal. In India, people decided during the freedom movement that there would be no big or small after independence. That is why the right to equality was repeatedly discussed in Articles 14 to 18 when the constitution was introduced. It means that every person is equal in the eyes of the law and the government. Now, equality is an excellent principle. But it also has some effects.

 

The other more significant question is that we know that the casteists in front of us want to serve their interests by dividing us. It has been happening for centuries, and we are becoming its victims. The governments of our country also more or less come into power by dividing and fighting the people. There is no scope of doubt that Brahminists are like the monkeys sitting everywhere in society who cause the cats to fight and also eat all the bread that their cats share. In the context of Mayawati, Chandrabhan says - 'RSS is charging a compound interest from the Dalits.' Mr Prasad, on the other hand, claims-'No one can suppress Dalits.' I have never been in favour of blaming Brahminism for all the disputes. But when we know the character of the monkeys, it is our folly and stupidity that we let them take over our share of pieces of bread. But even the Ambedkarites, who call themselves enlightened according to the first principle of Baba Saheb, need to improve at the first step, i.e. 'Educate', 'Agitate', and 'Organize', are the issues to get settled automatically based on education. If we had education or had become educated in real spirit, the monkeys would not have dared to even look at our bread. Our hue and cry on the issue of sub-classification shows that we have surrendered before the monkeys and have not learnt anything even after getting educated.

 

I have some questions in this regard:

 

1. Today,  Chamar, Pasi, Mahar etc., are in the majority and comparatively robust, then why are they opposing reservation for the weaker Dalits? What is new in this divisive formula of the casteists, which has been in practice for centuries?

2. Has Man in India today not become just a 'caste' due to his ignorance, which is the root of all disputes?

3. Why are the politicians elected based on reservation silent? Why don't they have their own opinion or decisive voice?

4. Who conspires against India to call the Bharat Band without a solid identity, and how did they conceal their identities?

5. Who do all such dramas in the name of Dr. Ambedkar and Ambedkarism?

6. What is Mr Prasad's intention when he says - 'Chamars never surrendered. During the Second World War, when Hitler's Royal Army came, the authorities decided to send Chamars because they did not get the right to lift sticks/ Lathi. If they get rifles, they will defeat the enemy. That is why Chamar Regiment came into reality.' Chandrabhan should clarify- Whom does he want to give rifles today, which new regiment he intends to produce, and whom he wants to defeat in the war.' It must be the true Ambedkarits' priority to encounter such burning issues/questions.

 

Do 'intellectuals' and 'politicians' fear that if they speak against their community, they fear being boycotted or ruined politically? Are there no people who can stand up and talk about the truth?

 

To answer this question, I would like to recall the first sentence of Rousseau's Social Contract, in which he says—'Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains.' I wish to recall Gabbar's dialogue in the current context—' He who is frightened is considered dead.' We disagree with Gabbar's context, but it works with the dread they inherit.

 

Prasad Saheb, under the influence of casteism, argues-'Before the subdivision of reservation intoxicates the Chamars. After the subdivision exists to benefit the people who are helped by the subcategorisation reservation, they will get intoxicated. Nobody will stay intoxicated after 10-20 years when the reservation ends. He wants to say that if the reservation exists, it is because of the fighting/struggling communities like Pasi and Chamars. He further offers lollipops – 'Why don't the Dalit community think about studying at Harvard? Why don't they think of getting the Nobel Prize? Why don't the children of IAS officers think of business? Why do they think of jobs? Why don't they think of business, etc.?'

 

Prasad Ji forgets which Fatwa he had just issued and, in a hurry, issues another one, i.e., 'Black Africans had shackles on their feet, but today they come out on top in a 100-meter race.' Does Prasad Sahab want to put shackles on the feet of people of the beneficiaries of sub-divisions because he wants to make them the best runners in the race, like Black Africans? Prasad must answer that when their feet had already been shackled for centuries, how come they had not become great runners to date? Why does he want to put more shackles on the beneficiaries of sub-division? Finally, revealing his cards, he says—'Chamars, Mahars, etc., have gone ahead of other communities. Chamars were the first to become Ambedkarites, that is why they progressed. Chamars were banned from skinning animals and eating their meat, so they moved ahead. Why is the second generation of the sweeper also doing the same work? Why did the Valmikis not do this? He is accusing the Valmiki people. Why don't they work in factories? Washermen don't go to factories; they do ironing. The Valmikis, etc., celebrating their existence, will be finished in ten-twenty years.' We believe this statement is highly biased. 'He repeatedly mentions a CM that he keeps smoking Ganja; he has just become a minister in Delhi. He could not make anyone even a peon.'

 

Everyone knows who he is talking about but still speaks without naming him.

My question is that poverty has to be eradicated, and employment for all is crucial; why doesn't everyone have the right to employment? Why are some communities so backwards? It is the government's failure; why is the blame being put on the reservation? All aspects of the government should be mentioned and reviewed. Reservation has become a misleading job today; who will save people? Those adamant about fulfilling the pending reservation quota will not come forward and will try to eradicate poverty. Is the issue of reservation heating up today in the background of a new election arena? Why don't you take the responsibility of classifying the people sitting on the reserved seats to mislead the people? About 10.5% of reservations have been completed, and about 12% still need to be fulfilled. If the concerned authorities had followed the sub classification provisions faithfully, the extreme Dalits would have taken advantage of it. They might have come out of the category of extreme Dalits.'

 

We all have been advocating proportional representation. An impression is being given as if Valmikis have just been included in the SC list and that they will eat up the quota of others.

 

Rawat Ji, if I ask the same question in reverse, were the primary Dalit beneficiaries not eating up the quota of the sub-division beneficiaries before now? If they were not eating it, then how can the beneficiaries of the subcategorisation also eat up the quota of others? If they eat it, it will be their share; why should anyone object? But objections and fallacies continue. I want to bring in the debate on ‘Ambedkarnama’, organised by Pro. Ratan Lal with Advocate Dr Suresh Mane of BRSP. According to Mane, Baba Saheb talked about uniting the broken people but the Supreme Court's decision is again trying to break the people and society. Reservation is a symbol of unity of all scheduled castes and tribes but subdivision is a way of breaking reservations.’  But it is mischievous.

 

As far as maintaining unity is concerned, Hindus also call Dalits their own, but what about in practice? Sub-division does not mean ending ties with Ambedkarism. The arguments of reservation supporters are as hollow as those of casteists. Baba Saheb wanted a stronger base for society. Even within a family, there may be several types of physical and economic inequalities, but in the name of family, compensation has to be made among themselves. Then, if there is some discrimination in the Ambedkarite family, it is necessary to settle it among themselves and maintain the unity of the family (Ambedkarites).

We need to maintain mutual harmony by showing our farsightedness. I am of the opinion that Ambedkarism supports subdivision. On the lines of Ali Anwar, writer of 'Masawat Ki, Jung', it is our responsibility to bring the Pasmanda, Dalits, the ones who have been left behind. It is the basis of reservation and Ambedkarism.

 

We have also seen many activists who have been supporting sub-quota, especially the people of the manual scavenging community. These abuses are similar to what the upper castes do to the Dalits. Does this not expose our caste-based approach?

 

Needless to say, today's society is suffering from psychosomatic disorder. Universal morality and the power to think honestly have diminished in it. The leaders of present politics have brought it down so low that even thinking seriously about it makes one feel ashamed. Leave aside the society, the comments and gestures of the honourable in political forums, Vidhan Sabhas and Parliament are of such a low level that any responsible citizen would be ashamed. The government has made a particular section of the public mentally bankrupt, and blind followers mean a troll army to such an extent that it does not hesitate to tear apart the dignity of even the Supreme Court. It seems as if the media has no character left. Therefore, abuses on any simple issue have become the new normal. People abused VP Singh due to reservations for OBCs. People called him mentally ill, but the man had the courage not to back off. Even if the country does not honour him today, it does not matter. In such a condition, the beneficiaries of the sub-quota are nowhere to fight hard. Anyway, in normal circumstances, Dalits have to face new attacks on their identity every day in their daily lives. The abuses, being hurled today like those of the upper castes, show the Brahminism of the Dalits. Even if we convert to any other religion, the ethnic character does not deviate from its universal truth. It reminds me of the freedom struggle when the British said that Indians are uncivilised. Therefore, we must rule them (Indians) until they become civilised.

We have seen that equality is a good principle. However, everyone benefits from making policies that keep this in mind. The government's job is to work for everyone, so the constitution makers tied it with the principle of equal protection of the law and equality. The government has to provide help to establish equality. Reservation or affirmative action is the tool to develop this equality. We know that give an example, but those with evil intentions will never change. I appeal; let us prepare our ears and minds to face abuses.

 

Where is the anti-caste movement now? Do you think it never happened because we all suffered from our caste complexes and confined ourselves to our castes? Has there been no effort to reach out to other most marginalised communities? Are there no inter-caste marriages, even among the scheduled castes? We blame the Brahmins for everything, but what has been done on our front to create a casteless society?

 

We constantly blame the casteists/Brahminists, but while fighting the caste battle, we have become highly casteist. We have started writing the history of our castes, creating our ruling dynasty as we please. It is the most significant victory of the casteists on the lines of maximum investment and profit. The casteists' purpose of dividing the Dalits among themselves was getting materialised automatically. They are not trying to reach where there are no castes. They are not reaching where there was a casteless society and how peaceful, prosperous and progressive it was.  Interestingly, so-called Ambedkarites themselves are doing this work. We have formed organisations of our castes. Instead of finding solutions to our problems, we are falling prey to the fighting fronts of castes among ourselves. They could better spend their energies on necessary and productive work.

 

As far as the issue of inter-caste marriage is concerned, it is not happening at the level of the family but on the initiative of the young generation. It is happening based on mutual love relations, not based on any caste-breaking revolution. It may sound strange to say or hear, but it is a threatening reality. The activities of the present regime have snatched the dream of citizenship from the citizens. The battle of his life has confined him to spending his prime time earning a livelihood and maintaining the family. Despite all this, a significant revolution is taking place at the mobile level. Whatever time the people get to spend or dedicate to the worship of the mobile. Now, it is our choice whether to clap in this state of affairs or to beat our heads to console the depression caused by the system.

 

The crisis is severe, but politicians will only speak the language of domination. What is the duty of intellectuals? Many of them are not speaking out for fear of abuse. As an intellectual, what do you think should be done to bring them together? A perception has been deliberately created that Valmikis are the biggest obstacle to the unity of Dalits. Hence, political parties and followers adopt a 'we don't care' approach, especially in Uttar Pradesh. What should the future agenda be, and where are the intellectuals?

 

The intellectuals must keep lighting up the environment around them like a torch ahead of politics and society. Politics and society should trust them and follow them faithfully. But today's intellectuals do not trust themselves, so how can they gain the trust of others? Opportunism has pulled the ground from under the feet of intellectuals.  They don't have any base of their own nor any mass base left with them. What is new that we can find in such a situation? The opportunists have already created the notion that Valmikis do not have a respectable identity and no appropriate ideology to follow. Political parties and their followers already do politics of the particular caste; hence, they do not care about anyone in Uttar Pradesh. Anyway, who cares about whom in the bulldozer rule of Uttar Pradesh? Therefore, no one should unnecessarily believe that someone cares about the interests of the people and their better life. They don't have any vision for the masses except hollow promises to befool them.

 

What should be the future agenda of intellectuals regarding reservation for the upliftment of Dalit-exploited-oppressed society, i.e. social justice?

 

I believe that the victims of caste oppression are not only Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists. There are Dalits among Muslims and Christians. In whichever religion, Dalits are Dalits. They have the right to call themselves other than Hindus, maybe Muslims or Christians, and nothing remarkable has changed, to quote here. It means Dalits are Dalits everywhere to be insulted, exploited and be fooled. Suppose the system and people dare to ensure social justice for them. Why shouldn't they have the legal right to have the benefits of subclassified reservations irrespective of their castes and religion but the social, political and economic oppressions? They are not our enemies but our brothers and citizens of the country like all of us. I do not want to make the subject an arena for politics or controversy. We need to spare time from our busy schedule to learn about their life, miseries and living conditions to understand they suffer from basic amenities essential for their living and for letting their breath go in and out as a witness that they are still alive.

 

In the current context, I want to share some information from Niraj Doiphode's article 'Reservation for Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians'. According to this - 'There is not enough data on Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians in India. It is estimated that there are 20 million Christians in India, out of which seventy per cent belong to the Dalit community. These include Pulayan in Kerala, Pariha in Tamil Nadu, Tigala in Karnataka, Mala in Andhra Pradesh, Chamar in MP, UP and Bihar, Churha in Punjab, Vankar in Gujarat, Mahar in Maharashtra, etc. Dalit Muslims are available across all parts of India.'…Many did not convert to Buddhism because neo-Buddhists faced discrimination after conversion, so they chose Christianity and Islam. Despite their conversion, Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims are still denied access to "land, water and dignity".'

 

'…The first Backward Classes Commission, also known as the Kalelkar Commission, headed by Kaka Kalelkar, recommended in 1955 that "before the disease of caste can be eradicated, all information about it should be recorded and classified scientifically like a clinical record" and this could be done in the 1961 census, if not before 1957.'…Following the recommendations, converted Sikhs got included in the Scheduled Caste group in 1956, and Buddhists got inclusion in 1990, but Muslims and Christians were left out.'…The Constitution of India provides several protections and benefits to Scheduled Castes that are not available to Dalit Muslims and Christians. The SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act sets up special courts to prosecute crimes against marginalised communities and provide redressal and rehabilitation to victims. Muslims and Christians from Dalit communities cannot contest elections for seats in constituencies reserved for SCs.

 

Finally, outside the ambit of all questions, I would like to share some excerpts from an open discussion by Ashok Das, editor of Dalit Dastak, with Mr Athaval and Mr Roopram, both Rajasthani Valmikis, which is a sample of the perspective of the beneficiary of sub classification. I want to underline a few points briefly:

 

1. How did we become separate if we got something out of sub classification? How did we become opponents?

2. Both said categorically, "We are together on the issue of atrocities, the Constitution, and Dr Ambedkar; then how are we different?"

 

3." Why is there a Bharat Bandh without mutual dialogue? Is its boycott by us a violation of our unity?

 

4. The beneficiaries of sub-division are being made to understand that apart from the reservation, they should fight for opening separate schools, colleges, etc.

 

5. Both argue that after independence, the condition of the whole society was the same, and they received the benefits of reservation. If our condition is like that of autonomy today, we will also receive the same benefits as others, and we can progress a lot.

6. Baba Saheb has called the Dalit society broken people. If we get something separately, how has this division of society happened? Today, some people are breaking our morale due to sub-division.

 

Due to this decision of sub-division, whatever comes to mind, anything is being said in the name of Ambedkar and Ambedkarism, a token of truth and authenticity. That is why Mr Prasad dares say, 'They will tie thick bands of Rakhi threads on their hands and want reservations.' He probably wants to convey that they follow Hindu rituals. Hence, they are not entitled to reservation. My question is - 'Will the one who does not believe in Ambedkar or Ambedkarwad be deprived of the reservation right? In the era of opportunism, whatever one finds in his favour shouts it loudly under the banner of Dr Ambedkar or Ambedkarvad and tries to impose on others to follow it in the name of Dr Ambedkar. I can't entirely agree with this fanatic stand and emphasise that Dr Ambedkar and Ambedkarism should not be misused for the peltry interests of an individual and a community. Baba Sahab was dragged into this controversy about whether the reservation was fair. The judgement must be taken as judgement to be taken a tool for the emotional blackmailing of the masses. One more thing, the people are highlighting time and again to argue- 'Ambedkar did not ask for separate reservations for Mahars', through this comment, they want to say that separate reservations should not be asked for even today. I categorically declare that Demanding separate reservations at that time would have gone against Baba Saheb's personality, and the entire movement would have ended. But today, the issue of sub-division is as relevant and essential as not demanding separate reservations for Mahars at that time. But today's circumstances demand that for unity, integrity and brotherhood in society, subcategorisation must be accepted with open arms.

 

Ultimately, it seems necessary to remember what Baba Saheb said about nationalism, 'I want all people to be Indians first and Indians last and nothing else except Indians.' Today, on this occasion, I request you, with folded hands, to become true Indians and show Indianness collectively that Dr B. R. Ambedkar longed for as a tribute to the great visionary. Let's embrace each other with open arms and minds as a symbol of our unbreakable unity.

 

Monday, August 12, 2024

Arguments of Conveniences reflect the hypocrisy of political responses on SC categorization issue

 Chronology of sub quota movement in the Scheduled Caste categories 


Vidya Bhushan Rawat

The Supreme Court Judgement on Sub Classification of Scheduled Caste Reservation has rightly been criticized for transgressing in venturing into areas which actually were not part of petition. Apart from it, the lectures of ‘morality’ and ‘ethics by various judges particularly speaking about ‘creamy layer’ only look hollow the way judges so vehemently defend their own system of selection process, named as collegium system, in judiciary.  Obviously, people ask when will we see a judiciary where a common person too can dream of becoming a judge in the Supreme Court of India. It is sad, the judges unnecessarily dragged Scheduled Tribe into the issue who were not part of the petition and the issues belonging to them are absolutely different. The main issue before the court was subclassification or cagetorisation which emerged because of a long court battle for the Madiga community in Andhra Telangana and Karnataka as well as the Balmikis and Majhabis in Punjab as various court orders got challenged and the issue before Supreme Court was of great importance for the future of reservation of Scheduled Castes.  In the year 2004, Supreme Court had actually ruled out the sub classification suggesting the Scheduled Castes are not heterogenous. Now, the Supreme Court has ruled that the Scheduled Castes are heterogenous and states have power to make laws and create subclassification after collecting all empirical data. Let us look at the issue of demand for ‘quota with in quota’ in various states before we generalize the entire issue as a fight between different communities. It is not that simple to put blame on one individual community as this issue is neither sudden nor new.

Fight for Subclassification

The fight for subcategorization was part of struggle in many states particularly Andhra-Telangana, Karnataka as well as in Punjab. Silently, the smaller communities were venting their feelings in other states too but they were not organized. The most powerful and organized struggle for subcategorization happened in Andhra Telangana by Manda Krishna Madiga, leader of Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti who led this battle for nearly 40 years. In fact, Prime minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally during hi election campaign for 2024 elections in Hyderabad by promising to bring subcategorization for Madiga community. The huge rally saw Manda Krishna Madiga sharing the podium with Narendra Modi[i]. Whatever be the outcome, Manda Krishna Madiga has been working singlehandedly on the issue with the massive support of his community. In an interview he said, ‘The decades-long agitation of Madiga people has come to a conclusion as we got what we desired. The movement, which started in 1994, has come to a conclusion after 30 long years. The judgment has brought us much happiness. Our sacrifices have not been in vain. A hundred generations of Madigas and other downtrodden castes will benefit from this judgment.[ii]

The battle of the Madiga community had been big and well organized. I myself saw the huge gatherings in the early 2004 in Hyderabad but it began much before that. The community struggle started early 1980s but it was N Chandra Babu Naidu who started the process of categorization in Andhra Pradesh, in the year 1997 after a massive rally from ‘Naidu’s birthplace Naravaripalle in Chittoor district to Hyderabad, Naidu, then the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, agreed to divide the SCs into the A, B, C, and D categories. This is when E V Chinnaiah, Venkat Rao, and Mala Mahanadu founder P Vigneshwara Rao challenged the Naidu government’s order in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. A single-judge Bench of the court struck down the order but the Naidu government passed an Ordinance and then an Act in the Assembly and the High Court upheld the legislation. In 2001, the three activists approached the Supreme Court against the law, with Chinnaiah as the lead petitioner. A five-judge Constitution Bench ruled in November 2004 that micro-classification of SCs was unconstitutional.’ [iii]

The battle for classification did not stop because of various pending cases from other states as well as mobilization of the different communities both in OBCs as well as SCs. The issue of ST did not have these issues though in certain part people blame particular communities benefitting from the reservation but that has not turn into a crisis as it happened in Scheduled Caste Communities and OBCs. These contradictions or differences among the communities are actually used by different political parties for their own benefits and that is why a broader Dalit, OBC unity is always the game of the numerically powerful communities who need these marginalized sections just as tailenders. Actually, after the Mandalisation process in India beginning since 1990, various caste identities started seeking their space in power and administrative structure. Political parties too utilized this opportunity to mobilise various castes for their own political purposes. The anti-caste movement got aside and we saw a new assertion of different communities. Initially, it looked good that diverse communities are getting mobilised but later ambitious political leaders used this mobilization for bargaining with different political alliances. Today, these mobilizations are used by the powerful communities everywhere and hence the broader unity of the communities has got impacted. In every state there have been groups seeking separate quota for their communities. Frankly speaking, in the absence of a dialogue among them, the communities are made to fight against each other and blame their immediate ‘neighbor’ for the sorry state of their plight. Interestingly, none blame the state and authorities for loss of job, privatization of public sector, non-recruitment in vacancies in Central and state governments, paper leaks, Work on Contract etc. More and more caste-based organisations are being used and pushing things in the legal frame so that individuals filing cases in the courts become heroes of the community. Similarly, social media is full with distorted stories with Chamars blaming Balmikis and vice versa. Can’t there be a internal dialogue but leaders don’t care for it as they fear to lose their ‘constituency’.

It is important to understand that in the South there is a broader unity among political parties on the issue. As mentioned above, Chandra Babu Naidu, as chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh categorized SC quota in 1997 on demand of Madiga community movement. The Malas opposed it.

There is a 3% sub quota for Arundhatiyars (manual scavenging community) in Tamil Nadu, out of 18% quota fixed for schedule castes. Similar proportionality is maintained in quota for backward classes too resulting in total reservation of 69%. In Tamil Nadu most of the political parties including ruling DMK and its allies VCK have welcomed the Supreme Court Order, though later position of VCK seems to have changed. The opposition AIDMK, MDMK, PMK too have welcomed the decision of categorization.  The 69% quota in Tamil Nadu is 30% for backward classes which include 3.5% for Muslim Backward Communities. Then there is 20% quota for most backward classes which include 13% for Most Backward Communities and 7% for denotified communities. Scheduled Castes get 18% reservation which include 3% sub quota for Arundhatiyars i.e. Manual scavenging community. Scheduled Tribes have 1% quota in the state list.  The demand for a separate quota for Arundhatiyar community in Tamil Nadu actually started in 1984 by a group formed by the Community youths and ultimately it took 25 years for it to finally got in the statute book in Tamil Nadu as a separate quota. ‘In 2009, the State government, headed by the then DMK chief M Karunanidhi, introduced a special quota for the community, combining seven castes out of the 74 listed in the SC category. The sub-quota was introduced based on a report submitted by the Justice Janarthanam Commission, which stated that Arunthathiyars were highly under-represented in government departments and educational institutions’[iv].

Interestingly, all the major political parties in Tamil Nadu are hailing the sub quota for Arundhatiyars and claiming to have taken the initiative. Former Chief Minister E P Palaniswami said, “It was the govt led by me that set up a committee led by Adi-Dravidar and tribal welfare secretary in 2020 to protect interests of Arunthathiyars. Based on the recommendations of the committee, the senior advocates appointed by the state govt placed their arguments well before the Supreme Court,” the former CM said. On the basis of arguments, a five-member bench led by Justice Arun Mishra of the Supreme Court gave a favorable verdict on the internal quota to Arunthathiyars in 2020, Palaniswami said. The bench eventually referred the case to a seven-member constitution bench, which endorsed the constitutional validity of the state legislation.[v]

Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu welcomed the Supreme Court ruling and termed it as the victory of Dravidian Model. ‘Hailing the apex court verdict, he said it was heartening that the bench upheld the internal reservation granted to the Arunthathiyar community, as laid down in an Act passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly. Today's Supreme Court judgment is another recognition of our #DravidianModel journey to establish #SocialJustice for the social liberation of the oppressed people," Stalin said in a post on X.  A formal committee was established and, based on the data collected through it, late chief minister and DMK stalwart M Karunanidhi had set apart three per cent internal reservation for the Arunthathiyar community, he said. "I introduced a bill in the state assembly and it was passed," the CM, who is also the president of the DMK, said in the post.[vi]

There are however differences in the political leadership of the Scheduled Castes. VCK chief Thirumavalam, who had earlier supported the Supreme Court judgement, has backtracked now. His colleague Ravi Kumar has criticized it and felt that even in that sub quota, the dominant group alone benefit. Ravi Kumar actually termed categorization worse than creamy layer. VCK is an alliance partner with DMK and Congress.

 

Andhra Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu as well as opposition leader Jagan Reddy have welcomed it. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddharammaiya too have welcomed the decision while Reventh Reddy, the chief minister of Telangana has promised that his state would be the first one to implement it.  It is a well-known fact that battle for separate quota in the scheduled castes list actually was fought in the most powerful way by Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti led by Krishna Madiga and therefore it was natural for the political parties there to welcome the Supreme Court verdict.

Sadly, in the north India, the dominant debate against subclassification is led by Buddhist in Maharashtra and Chamars and Jatavs in north India particularly Uttar Pradesh who are blaming the Valmikis/Balmikis or manual scavenging community for supporting the Supreme Court Judgement and sabotaging the unity of different Dalit groups.  Actually, the intellectuals, political activists, politicians led by dominant Jatav-Chamar castes have blamed the Valmikis for playing into the hands of RSS and other political leaders. Unfortunately, in this entire debate people are ignoring some hard facts that there has been a constant struggle by various communities for their share not only in political sphere but also in administration and power structure. By persistently ignoring the issue and living in denial mode as if the only problem emerges from the Brahmanical elite (no doubt, they will always be more than eager to intervene and divide).

 

As mentioned earlier, the main battle for subcategorization was fought by Madiga community of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and its leader Manda Krishna Madiga which is not a small minority but has a substantial presence in Telangana, Andhra and Karnataka. Now, one can ask as who are Madigas ? Yes, they are mostly leather workers or Chamars but more interestingly, about 7 castes with in Madiga subclassification belong to manual scavenging community. So, socially and culturally, Andhra Telangana provide a beautiful picture of Valmiki-chamar under one caste category called Madigas and it is they who fought the biggest battle for sub categorization. All netas, experts and revolutionaries of north India should understand this battle was being fought for nearly forty years. Madigas are not a minority among Dalits in Telangana but nearly 50% of the total Dalit population. So blaming Balmikis for starting the subcategorization debate is wrong. Among the Ambedkarites, it was veteran Bhagwan Das, who had a deep understanding of different castes and communities in various states. Long back, in a conversation with me he explained about Madigas, ‘It is not a community itself. It is divided into 12-14 castes. But in South the division is not that bad. In Andhra Madigas who are basically Chamars but 7 castes among them work as scavengers hence the division is not that strict and harsh as in North India’.[vii]

 

Maharashtra question

 

It is important to first look at the rising demands of the different communities in Maharashtra. The dominant community among the scheduled castes is Mahars which embraced Buddhism with Baba Saheb Ambedkar and like to be termed as Buddhist community but a majority of other Dalit communities in Maharashtra remained in the Hindu fold including Charmkars, Matangs, Mangs etc and seeking separate quota with in scheduled castes. While Maharashtra has been in the news for Maratha to be put in the OBC list but within the scheduled castes, voices for separate reservation has been growing for years.

“We want A, B, C and D sub-categories in the SC category... Buddhist Dalits were employed by the British in roles like police patils and kotwals, giving them an early exposure to the government and administration. Thus, they were in a position to corner quota benefits earlier than the other 58 Hindu Dalit castes,” charged former minister Laxmanrao Dhobale, who has launched a protest under the banner of the ‘Akhil Bharatiya Matang Samaj.’

Dhobale sought sub-quotas for SCs on lines of those for vimukta jatis and nomadic tribes (VJNT). “To ensure equitable justice for all, based on their population, Buddhist Dalits can be included in the A category, the Matang community, which has the second-highest numbers, in B, Charmakars, Holars and Dhors in C, and other communities barring these can be categorised as SC-D,” he demanded. Former Shiv Sena MLA Baburao Mane of the Rashtriya Charmakar Sangh said they would launch a protest after Diwali demanding a bifurcation in the SC quota. “All castes in the SC category must be divided in sub-quotas... otherwise, a select few corner benefits,” he added, stating that such demands had been made in other states too.’ [viii]

It is important to understand that quota in Maharashtra too is subclassified particularly among the OBCs. “The 30 per cent reservation for the other backward classes (OBCs), for example, is split into 19 per cent for the OBC category proper and 11 per cent for the Vimukta Jati and Nomadic Tribes. The last, in turn, is split into 3 per cent for VJs or denotified tribes and 2.5 per cent for the nomadic tribes category B, 3.5 per cent for the category C (Dhangar community) and 2 per cent for category D (the Vanjari community).”[ix]   The quota for scheduled castes in Maharashtra is 13% for a total of about 59 castes and for scheduled tribes, it is 7% for about 47 communities.  

The categorisation practically started from Punjab

There are a lot of claims related to present petition and the involvement of Balmikis in the cases in Supreme Court. The fact is there always are different petitions of individuals, organisations and governments and they are clubbed together but the main petition remains with Government of Punjab as litigant. So let us understand as what happened in Punjab. Punjab has the highest number of Scheduled Caste Population in India. “It is about 32% as per 2011 census. The main communities among Scheduled castes are Mazhabis, Valmikis, Ravidasis, Ramdasis, Adidharmi along with 30 other castes. Mazhabis are 31.5% and Valmikis 11% belong to sanitation and cleaning work, Ravidasis, Ramdasia are 26.2%, Ad-dharmis are 15%.”[x] It is categorical that Mazhabis-Valmikis are the biggest among the scheduled castes in Punjab constituting about 42.5%.  The quota for the scheduled caste is 25% which should be increased as per its population but the government divided this to 12.5% each for two categories. The Mazhabis-Valmikis alone are 12% of Punjab population and yet underrepresented in the services saw numerous movements for a separate quota with in it hence the then Chief Minister Giani Zail Singh issued an order fixing up 12.5% quota for Mazhabis and rest for the other communities.  On July 25th,  2006, this order got struck down by Punjab and Haryana High Court in the aftermath of the Supreme Court Order in 2004 on E V Chinnaiah verses State of Andhra Pradesh in which a five-judge bench declared subclassification as invalid and unconstitutional.  Chief Minister Amarinder Singh realized the gravity of the situation and got the Punjab Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Reservation in Services Act 2006 passed in the Punjab Assembly and got it notified on 5th October 2006. "However, Section 4(5) of the Act, which provided fifty percent reservations to Valmikis and Mazhabi Sikhs, was struck down by a Division Bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court on March 29th, 2010.’[xi]  In fact, Amarinder Singh said in an interview The Punjab government had challenged this in the Supreme Court finally on a five judge bench led by Justice Arun Mishra in August 20th, 2020 disagreed with Chinnaiah judgement and categorically mentioned that states can provide reservation to most marginalized communities separately. ‘Taking up the plea of the Punjab government, a five-judge bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra (since retired), on August 27, 2020, differed with the Chinnaiah judgement and referred it for adjudication by a larger bench of seven judges or more for an authoritative pronouncement. We endorse the opinion of a bench of three judges that EV Chinnaiah is required to be revisited by a larger bench; more so, in view of further development and the amendment of the Constitution, which have taken place’.[xii]

The judgement emphatically says, ‘There are unequals within SC/STs and socially and educationally backward classes. Reports indicate that SCs/STs do not constitute a homogenous group. The aspiration of equal treatment of the lowest strata, to whom the fruits of the reservation have not effectively reached, remains a dream. At the same time, various castes by and large remain where they were, and they remain unequals. Are they destined to carry their backwardness till eternity?’[xiii]

Is it merely a judicial overreaction or failure of Dalit Bahujan political leadership to carry all along with them

Frankly speaking, Supreme Court verdict is related to these specific cases of Andhra Pradesh and Punjab about categorization. All this has not happened because the court wanted to intervene deliberately. These issues emerge because there are movements for that. It might be aggravated by the rival parties and politicians but then it should have been countered with maturity and a sense of fraternity. It is also unfortunate that it took so long for the court to deliver the verdict and then create another form of confusion. We are at such a critical phase of time when individuals use these moments as individual success whether for or against certain verdict. However, the real issue is whether this entire verdict delivered by Justice Chandrachud along with six other judges happened all of a sudden. From the history that I provided the Punjab case started since 1975 which means it is 49 years and Andhra-Telangana case started in 1997 which means it was over 27 years. Was there no need for a conversation with leadership of the warring communities on the issue? Secondly, the entire issue is being converted as if this is only the issue of Uttar Pradesh where we have not heard much from the leadership of these marginalized among the scheduled castes. The reason for it is that their numbers are far below but in state like Bihar, the leaders such as Jitan Ram Manjhi has spoken openly against the position taken by Chirag Paswan. Jitan Ram Manjhi, a former chief minister, now a Central Minister who belong to one of the most marginalized Mushahar community in Bihar welcomed the verdict, "We welcome and support the Supreme Court verdict. It is good," the Union MSME  minister told reporters here, after attending the HAM (S) executive committee meeting.  He further said, "If you analyse the Scheduled Caste literacy percentage, four castes in it have 30 to 40 per cent literacy rate, while 22 castes have a literacy rate ranging from 3 per cent to 15 per cent. Even B R Ambedkar had emphasised a review of the reservations every 10 years, but no such exercise has taken place so far."[xiv]

Manjhi was critical of his own ministerial colleagues and others criticizing Supreme Court judgement. He said, “How many IAS, IPS, chief engineers, Class I officers are from these backward Dalit castes? Only four dominant Dalit castes have benefited from the reservation policy and they are opposing the latest court’s judgement”, he said.[xv]

Manjhi’s statement might look rhetorical but it reflects a dark reality of hard positions among the communities in the Scheduled Castes list. In the absence of an effort to bring all together and that is only possible with promise of participation things will only worsen. We need to understand the issue of identities and representation in the post Mandal era in the 1990s. There is no doubt that the biggest fight for implementation of Mandal Commission report actually emerged from Ambedkarites who stood up solidly with the backward communities but slowly the caste identities started emerging in with different ‘jaati Sammellans’ in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other parts of the country. Baba Saheb’s annihiliation of castes actually disappeared and it was ‘felt’ that caste identity is biggest asset politically. Manywar Kanshiram Saheb actually brought different castes together, gave space to those communities in the party, at lower level, who had never got that opportunity. He was a man of many ideas, real social scientist but slowly even the other parties started this different jaati sammellans. It looked as if all are coming together. Even BAMSCEF put photographs of so many different ‘icons’ of Dalit Bahujans purely to suggest ‘diversity of communities’ in the movement.

The historic wrongs with OBCs and rise of caste identities in the Post Mandal Era

One important factor is that Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribe reservation issue has never been questioned and is a settled issue as far as overall quota is concerned. The major fault lies with the issue of OBCs in the constitution despite the fact that there was provision for it in the Madras State as the entire movement and formation of Justice Party that began in the 1920s started on the premise of representation of the backward classes in the power structure. In 1953 government formed a commission under Kaka Kalelkar who submitted his report in March 1955 but it could never see the light of the day. Over the years, the issue got delayed in the cumbersome world of formation of Commissions and the submission of their reports. The first non-Congress government led by Morarji Desai formed the Mandal Commission who submitted his report to the then President Giani Zail Singh on December 31st, 1980.  It took nearly 10 years and again a non-Congress government led by Vishwanath Pratap Singh to accept its recommendations and decision to implement it.

On August 7th, 1990 when prime minister V P Singh made the historic announcement in the Parliament for acceptance of Mandal Commission Report. But Mandal report has sent heart burn in India’s caste Hindus who never forgave VP for the ‘sin’ he committed. It is because of this, various ways and means were ‘developed’ to curtail the reservation, denigrate them, use them under the pretext of Economically Weaker Sections and so on. Mandal report might have been for the backward communities but it ignited SC-ST-OBCs and they started coming together.  The biggest impact of the coming together of diverse groups politically was the big defeat of BJP in the elections held in the aftermath of Babari demolition. Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party had joined hand and defeated BJP in Uttar Pradesh in 1993 . This gave a huge boost to non Brahmanical forces all over the country particularly SC-ST-OBCs who started organizing themselves not only politically but also culturally. The leaders felt that there can’t be different forces vying for same space in UP and Bihar hence SP-BSP fought against Janta Dal due to the same ‘constituency’ of people. BJP had realized that it would hardly be possible to counter Mandal merely with Jai Shree Ram alone and hence they promoted leaders like Kalyan Singh, Vinay Katiyar and Uma Bharati, all hailing from backward communities. That apart, the Sangh Parivar started working among diverse sections of SC-ST-OBCs. Particular focus was made on non-Yadav non Chamar-non-Jatav communities as ambitions and personal rivalry broke the SP BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh. It broke the movement and then we found different kind of political ‘experiments’ in Uttar Pradesh. Some time it was Dalit Brahmin alliance (basically Chamar-Brahmin alliance) named as Sarvjan or Mulayam Singh Yadav’s so called OBC Brahmin (Yadav Brahmin alliance along with Rajputs as Amar Singh was arranging everything. The Brahmin dominated ‘intellectual’ and media had convinced every one including the leadership these parties that there are 11-12% brahmins in Uttar Pradesh and they are essential for any combination to gain power in the state. This farcical data was enough for both BSP and SP to flirt with them. Ofcourse, the Brahmins have a disproportionate presence in media, bureaucracy, judiciary and civil society of Uttar Pradesh and their influence is much more powerful than the strength of their community. The biggest tragedy in this entire exercise was the attitude of the leaders of Samajwadi Party and BSP. Frankly both Yadavas and Chamars and Jatavs could not come together for the simple reason that one has to play the second fiddle. Samajwadi Party under Akhilesh during his tenure as Chief Minister targeted Scheduled Caste reservation and changed the names of the districts which Ms Mayawati had done during her tenure as Chief Minister. Akhilesh and Mulayam were deliberately provocative when they targeted Ambedkar Park and built Lohia Park in Lucknow. Samajwadi Party leader in Lok Sabha protested the bill for reservation in Promotion for the scheduled castes and snatched it from the hand of Sonia Gandhi in Lok Sabha. Akhilesh Yadav too encouraged karmcharis in Uttar Pradesh to stand up against reservation in promotion. Political compulsion for survival brought both the parties together in 2019 elections but they got defeated together. The very next day, Ms Mayawati broke the alliance with Akhilesh Yadav and again an attempted coming together got derailed. Now, Congress and Samajwadi Party are together and both used the issue of Constitution and Baba Saheb Ambedkar during the elections and got phenomenal response. This election has also given another leader to Ambedkarite movement in the form of Chandra Shekhar Azad who has so far been impressive in Parliament. So, Uttar Pradesh’s politics for getting the ‘Dalit’ vote is the root of the entire exercise. The fact is that both Congress and Samajwadi Party got a huge chunk of Jatav-Chamar votes too and they are the ones who are speaking up loudly against the Subclassification for long. Their position against this is very old particularly in Uttar Pradesh. Parties know it well who votes where. Samajwadi Party gets a huge chunk of Pasi votes which are influential right from Gorakhpur till Barabanki, Sitapur etc. BJP’s outreach targets the Balmikis and Dhobis but numerically the Chamars themselves constitute more than 54% of the total scheduled caste population in Uttar Pradesh. While SP and BSP were happy to have solid backing of their main ‘constituencies’ i.e. Yadavs and Chamars unrealistically giving Brahmins much bigger pie than they deserved. With BJP’s open Manuwadi agenda, Brahmins-Bania-Rajputs realized that it was the best suited party serving their interest. Not be left aside, Jats, Gujjars, Lodhs too became the favorite of BJP. The most marginalized among Dalits and OBCs were completely left in Uttar Pradesh. Many of them did not have a single MLA or even the village Sarpanch. The silent network of the Sangh Parivar worked over time among these communities. Narratives were built and each community was given a ‘mythological’ hero. BJP can’t ignore Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar yet it created numerous other icons from all these different communities. It helped. Most of these communities too felt strongly for the Ram Mandir Movement rather than questioning the Brahmanical caste system that kept them away as well as turning them against Muslims by creating fictitious narrative of their fight against Muslims or Islam. Under revolutionary Kanshiram, BSP attracted a large number of such communities on the margins who could never even imagine to send a leader in state assembly. Unfortunately, today with more interest of the party in the Brahmins, the other Dalit communities started drifting from it. The rival parties started building up the narrative in the villages that Chamars have eaten of their ‘Haq’ i.e. rights. So, for all the problems of Doms, Mushahars, Valmikis, Kols the narrative was that Chamars have acquired everything. The problem was that it was not merely a political master game in Uttar Pradesh. It was used by all communities Yadav, Kushwahas, Kurmis, Rajputs, Brahmins, Bhumihar, Jats, Gujjars etc whoever was powerful in their domain. The result was that in many reserved constituencies, these powerful castes defeated well organised Chamar candidates in Panchayats if the seat got reserved and got dummy candidates from other communities win the elections. The political success of one community whether Chamars, Yadavs, Jats forced the rival communities such as Pasis, Valmikis, Mushahrs, Rajbhars Nishads, Kurmis and Gujjars to look for other options. Unfortunately, parties working in the name of Bahujans or Dalits were unable to take these communities together and the result is that a majority of them went to other political parties. The result is the rise of Om Prakash Rajbhar, Jitan Ram Manjhi and mavericks’ who have become bigger than their movements. Most of them have no hatred towards the caste Hindus but purely target either Chamars or Yadavs suggesting these communities have gained due to reservation.

BSP could have played a bigger role since it was the party of Ambedkarite movement. It should have worked more among the MBCs and Ati Dalits to assure them that party would do everything to ensure their interest and they would not be isolated but sadly the representation of such community leaders in power structure of the party is nowhere. Rather than blaming Valmikis for trying to destroy them Dalit movement, the party should have understood that the biggest impact of the privatization process in the sanitation work is the Valmiki community. Their youths are not getting jobs even in the municipalities. Initially, they were blamed for not looking beyond ‘jhadu’ or ‘sanitation’ work but now they find it unwelcomed when the youths are looking beyond their ‘traditional occupation’. Is it not our duty to welcome these communities and provide them representation even if that was symbolic in nature but these parties are not even ready for that, The result is a huge trust deficit among various communities among the Scheduled Castes.

Often in the Bahujan parlance activists speak of proportional representation but that does not exists in the parties. Most of the parties, to look, more secular, have Brahmin spokespersons. I don’t need to speak about powerful Brahmin leaders in BSP, SP, RJD, LJP etc. You can watch them on TV but one can not provide a single Balmiki, Dom, Mushahar politician at senior level in these parties.

Dravidian Model provide hope

It is interesting that RJD was the first one to have come out openly against the Supreme Court Judgement. Samajwadi Party leader Dharmendra Yadav actually supported the Supreme Court decision but after many days Akhilesh Yadav tweeted speaking about ‘constitution’ and ‘discrimination’. The tweet itself played a ‘tightrope walk’ meaning nothing. Congress is still weighing its option though it is a well-known fact that the Punjab categorization happened during its government as well as Telangana and Karnataka have openly come out in support of Supreme Court Judgement. BJP is expert in playing multiple game and will take its own time but one must laud the DMK in Tamilnadu for being most vocal and absolutely unrepenting on the issue. We need to appreciate it. No party come near to the firefighting work that Dravidian parties particularly DMK did on the issue of reservation in India. You may disagree with them on many issues but you cant really question them on their commitment on reservation issue. All parties joined hand and compelled prime minister Narsimharao to put 69% reservation in the Schedule IX.  The Tamil Nadu SC-ST-BC bill was passed in the assembly in 1993 which took the quota to 69%. This quota was developed almost on proportionate basis: Backward Classes 26.5 per cent, Most Backward Classes/Denotified Communities 20 per cent, BC Muslims 3.5 per cent, Scheduled Castes 18 per cent and Scheduled Tribes (1 percent). The political leadership knew well that it would be difficult to protect itself from various litigations in the court as Supreme Court had put the 49% limit to reservation and it was impossible to satisfy different communities given the nature of their backwardness hence all political parties joined hand, passed resolution in the Assembly, came together on this issue with unanimity and forced the Union government to put Tamil Nadu’s 69% reservation bill in the Schedule IX making it beyond the reach of litigation and judicial review processes.  Can we think of such a unanimity in Uttar Pradesh where since 1989 till 2017, we had only two parties belonging to Bahujan Samaj. Unfortunately, the track record of both SP-BSP is not that shining when the issue of reservation came. They are speaking today purely with their political interest and unable to look beyond their own community interests rather than taking all the Dalit Bahujan communities along with them.

Ignoring the voices of dissent

While Supreme Court Judgement on the issue has definitely transgressed many things particularly unnecessarily picking up the issue of Creamy layer which was not really needed. Courts were never there for social justice but to divert attention. Government and political parties use the court to subvert or divert an issue but the Dalit leadership which is feeling betrayed must ponder over whether they ever tried to outreach the communities feeling left out in the Dalit discourse. It is sad that most of the voices against this judgement is coming either from the Brahmanical revolutionaries or those champions of Dalit Rights who rarely have time to share the pains of the most marginalized Dalit communities. The fact is, the gap and chasm between different Dalit and OBC communities has grown up because of the nature of opportunistic leadership. The unity of Dalis and OBCs will not happen with anti-Brahmanical rhetoric. It will need a comprehensive positive programme where each community feel equal partner and none can bulldoze other just on the basis of their numbers. Accept communities as equal partners and not make them feel unwanted or incapable which is purely a brahmanical practice. Whatever be the issues in Tamilnadu, may be people can make studies on the reservation policy of that state which has been proportional and provide space to all.

It need to be understood that Dalit communities as diverse culturally as well as linguistically as any other community in India. Baba Saheb was categorical on this and that is why he always used the term Scheduled Castes which indicated diversity of communities in the group. Baba Saheb also called it graded inequality which means he knew that there is also a graded discrimination with in the scheduled castes too. Many people suggest that the other Dalit communities do not have ‘capable’ candidates and it would be easier for government to point ‘Not Found Suitable’ candidate and then fil it with Brahmin Bania candidate. It is important therefor to ensure that a scheduled caste seat will only be replaced by a scheduled caste candidate and 17% reservation provided for scheduled Castes cannot be diluted. The same formula can be put in the roaster. I mean, issues will come up and we will have to prepare for new challenges. It can not happen that we harp on what happened 75 years back because we will have to face these new challenges and provide a solution. To ignore, hide or run away from any issue is not a solution but create more problems.

Therefore, popular debate on this issue must have the courage to involve those communities among the scheduled castes who are complaining. Rather than blaming them for all the wrongs, it is important to listen to them. Important to speak to Balmiki family, a Dom, a Mushahar, a Pasi, a Majahabi, Arundhatiyar, Mangs, Matangs, Madigas and ask for their opinion too on the matter.

Unfortunately, internal dialogue is missing and the result is those demanding things are simply going to other parties or Supreme Court. Ofcourse, everyone knows well, that the courts and government is more than happy to 'intervene'. But the entire issue also suggest time for serious introspection.

 

 

Creamy lawyer theory bogus unless EWS is applicable for the SC-ST-OBCs and General is not exclusive for caste Hindus

 

Supreme Court unnecessarily poked into creamy layer issue among the SCs. It is important for the Court to rectify its old judgements particularly on the issue of EWS and define it categorically. A majority of SC-ST-OBCs can easily cover under EWS but Court has made exclusive for Brahmin Banias by excluding SC-ST-OBCs. Various Courts rulings including apex court as well as clever circumvention of court order by the Brahmanical bureaucracy has converted unreserved seat into so called savarna quota termed as general seats. Let the Supreme Court make it clear that so-called general or unreserved seats are for every one including SC-ST-OBCs and perhaps then their talk about creamy layer can be justified. Without undoing the historical wrongs all talk about creamy layer is bogus and farce. Remember General does not mean Savarna but unreserved. SC-ST-OBC have every right to get selected in the General category which is being denied these days.

 

Frankly speaking, India is asking for proportional representation at all level. Hindu, Dalit, Bahujan, Muslims are bigger identities while people are rallying around their particular jaati identity. Even talk of so-called upper caste is bogus and farce. We need to speak about which jaati has what representation. Banias, Brahmins, Rajputs, Kayasthas, all must be enumerated separately and reflected in the official records. Similarly, we need to know the data related to Doms, Balmikis, Mushaars, Matang, Mang, Arundhatiyars and other communities on the margins.

 

Finally, all the marginalized must understand too that they will only prosper and progress if there is an internal dialogue among them. Baba Saheb took every one along with them. Manywar Kansiram did it and the result was unprecedented unity among different sections of Scheduled castes as well as backward communities. Remember, unity cannot be built by blaming those who are seeking their representation and participation. Do your homework. Start speaking and bring a political solution. Denying existence of a demand is simply dishonesty which will only damage the movement so laboriously built by Baba Saeb Ambedkar and carried forward by Manywar Kansiram ji. A political solution to this issue is possible if political leaders of all Dalit communities join hand and assure the most marginalized among them a fair share in not only jobs etc. but also in their respective political parties only then things will move otherwise the 'revolutionary' 'intellectuals' will intervene and damage the movement. Nearly 19 years back, I witnessed the huge Madiga protest movement in Hyderabad demanding separate quota for them. They were blamed but continued with their demand. I wrote a piece that time, ' Dalit Movement at the Cross Roads'. I think, today, it is time for the movement to build up fraternity among them, have courage to accept that there is a crisis and resentment among different communities on the margin, negotiate and win over them, seek their representation at all level. Baba Saheb’s movement was accepted by all and the Jatavs of Agra stood with him and spread the movement in the North. Punjab had a huge Ambedkarite presence. Baba Saheb’s volumes were first edited by legendry Bhagwan Das ji who was one of his most dynamic followers. Similarly, don’t ignore Deena Bhana ji contribution to build Bahujan movement with Manywar Kanshiram Saheb. Therefore, it is time to sit and introspect. Don’t give the crooked brahmanical elite to divide Dalit communities but in the absence of an honest attempt to bring them together the Hindutva-liberal elite will happily intervene and exploit the contradictions for their political gains.

 References : 


[ii] Dalit leader who fought for SC sub-classification: ‘Verdict will benefit a hundred generations of Madigas, other downtrodden castes’ by Nikhila Henry, Indian Express, August 3, 2024

https://indianexpress.com/article/political-pulse/sc-sub-classification-manda-krishna-madiga-interview-9491255/

 

[vii] In Conversation with Bhagwan Das, by Vidya Bhushan Rawat, countercurrents.org, October 2, 2007 https://www.countercurrents.org/rawat021007.htm

 

[xi]

Punjab : Amarinder Singh demands reservation for Valmikis-Mazhabi Sikhs in government jobs, Times of India, November 16, 2021

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/punjab-amarinder-singh-demands-reservation-for-valmikis-mazhabi-sikhs-in-govt-jobs/articleshow/87743648.cms

 

 

[xiii] Supreme court allows sub-classification of SC/STs for quota, Deccan Herald, August 27, 2020

https://www.deccanherald.com/india/sts-for-quota-878722.html