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Journalism of Courage
WITH Dalit leaders expressing apprehensions regarding the Supreme Court’s landmark decision allowing states to create sub-categorisation within Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for the purpose of reservation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured a 70-member delegation of the party’s SC/ST MPs that no step would be taken on the court’s observations calling for creamy layer exclusion.
BJP Bulandshahr MP Bhola Singh told The Indian Express after the meeting that SC/ST members of both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were part of the delegation. “We informed him of our concerns regarding the observations made by the honourable Supreme Court judges about the creamy layer among SC/ST communities. He assured that the government would not take any steps and reiterated that it stands for the welfare of SC and ST communities.”
Modi posted about the meeting on X, saying: “Met a delegation of SC/ST MPs today. Reiterated our commitment and resolve for the welfare and empowerment of the SC/ST communities.”
On August 1, a seven-judge Constitution Bench gave its ruling on whether states could do sub-categorisation within SC/STs for the purpose of reservation or not, with six of them ruling in favour. As part of his order, Supreme Court judge Justice B R Gavai observed that states must evolve a policy to identify the creamy layer among the SC/STs, who could be kept out of the benefits of reservation. He was backed by three other Justices.
Suresh Kumar Kashyap, a BJP MP from Himachal Pradesh, told The Indian Express that this was the only agenda of their meeting with the PM. “We met the Prime Minister just to give the memorandum, but he assured us that the government would not take any steps in this direction. The Prime Minister mentioned that it (what Justice Gavai said) was just an observation and not binding on the government.”
BJP MP from Delhi Yogender Chandolia told The Indian Express: “This observation was not a part of the verdict, but our opponents are spreading rumours that the BJP-led government wants to bring in creamy layer (exclusion). So, we formally met the PM, who assured us there was no question of a creamy layer for SC/STs. The BJP, our party president and the PM are all on the same page on this.”
BJP MP Faggan Singh Kulaste, who is an ST leader from Madhya Pradesh, also talked of the PM’s assurance to them, adding: “Four judges of the Supreme Court expressed their opinion that there should be creamy layer exclusion among SC/STs, but it was not part of the Court ruling.”
The MPs said that as far as the Supreme Court’s overall verdict allowing states to go ahead with sub-categorisation within the SC/STs goes, that was not a topic of discussion.
The BJP has not officially stated its stance on the August 1 judgment. Its ally Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), whose vote bank is Dalit, has expressed its disagreement with the verdict and said it would file a review petition.
The BJP is conscious of the erosion in its support base among the SC/STs as reflected in the recent Lok Sabha elections. BJP leaders have blamed this on the Opposition’s “misleading” campaign that a powerful BJP government could change the Constitution and take away the reservations for SC/STs.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won 46 SC-reserved seats, which came down to 30 this time. Its ST-reserved seat tally fell from 31 in 2019 to 25.
The Congress improved its vote share in SC-reserved seats to 20.8% in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, from 16.7% in 2019.
