Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing his best to explain to voters of Jharkhand and Maharashtra the exact meaning of his slogan, “Ek Hain, Toh Safe Hain”. On Thursday, at his rallies in Sambhaji Nagar, Raigadh and Mumbai, Modi read out the names of different backward and scheduled castes, and alleged that Congress wants to pit castes like Maani against Ghamandi, Luhar against Sutar, Sonar against Kumbhar, etc. “We must remain united, then only we can remain safe”, Modi said.
Caste reservation has emerged as a big issue in Maharashtra. It has emotional overtones. Already, Maratha and Dhankar communities have been agitating for reservation. But the question is: Why did Modi today read out the names of castes?
One must understand the background. Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes have their fixed reservation quota in government jobs. Some leaders have been complaining that some particular castes are cornering most of the reservation benefits, while other castes lag behind. The issue came up before the Supreme Court recently, and the apex court in August ruled by a 6:1 majority judgement that sub-classification within the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes was permissible.
The Supreme Court ruled that there was need for identifying creamy lawyer in SC/STs. By giving this verdict, the Supreme Court has changed the 20-year-old SC-ST reservation system. It said, those castes who need reservation more must be given benefits within the quota.
The SC ruling had come before the Haryana assembly elections. BJP had promised deprived castes that it would implement the apex court order. In the Haryana assembly on Wednesday, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said, his cabinet has decided to notify sub-classification of scheduled castes for reservation in government jobs, which shall come into effect immediately.
Under the new sub-classification, 10 pc quota for “deprived” scheduled castes and remaining 10 pc quota for other scheduled castes will be implemented. Fifteen castes have been kept in the “other scheduled castes” and 66 castes have been kept in “deprived scheduled castes” lists. Haryana will become the first state which will implement “quota within quota” for scheduled castes.
If one goes through Modi’s remarks about caste reservation at his rallies in Maharashtra, one can easily understand what he wants to convey and what he wants to do. There are several scheduled castes in Maharashtra, which get less benefits from reservation. If “quota within quota” system is implemented in Maharashtra, it will benefit a large number of scheduled castes and tribes, who have been hitherto deprived of the benefits of reservation. No need to explain, who is going to benefit during the Maharashtra assembly election.
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