BJP remains silent as opinions diverge on Supreme Court verdict on sub-categorization of Scheduled Castes

The BJP and even the Congress are not sure whether polarisation between dominant and non-dominant sections will pay off politically, and whether by taking a clear stand they will offend one set of communities or the other.

A week after the Supreme Court gave a verdict allowing state governments to carry out sub-categorization within the Scheduled Castes category, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not issued any statement or formulated reaction at the national level and is maintaining a studied silence.

The quality of silence, BJP insiders say, reflects the fact that while some sections of the party are happy that state governments can now sub-categorise, others are wary of the suggestion that a “creamy layer”, like that present in reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), be applied to the Scheduled Caste category.

Bizay Sonkar Shastri, party spokesperson and former chairman of the National Commission for SCs and STs (when it was a joint commission), said he welcomed the Supreme Court verdict. “When I was chairman of the SCs and STs Commission, a study we conducted revealed that there were 1,208 castes within the larger SC category and over 10,000 sub-castes. Any SC supporter will be happy with the Supreme Court verdict, as will the BJP, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policy of ‘That’s how it goes, that’s how it goes“, Mr. Shastri said.

On the other hand, Arun Kumar Sagar, BJP MLA from Shahjahanpur, himself a member of the Jatav community, expressed reservations over the application of the ‘creamy layer’ concept to the SC quota. “The stigma of untouchability still prevails, no matter how advanced a person from the Dalit community is. What does economic criteria do for this? Will the application of the creamy layer eliminate it?” he said. The Hindu.

While there is no common view within the BJP and divergent opinions are expressed lower down the hierarchy, political scientist Badri Narayan attributed part of the reason why the BJP, nationally, remained silent on the Supreme Court verdict to the uncertain political aftermath that followed the verdict.

“While the Supreme Court verdict considers the Scheduled Caste category as a whole, now divided into dominant and non-dominant communities, with differential distribution of reservation benefits, politically, the non-dominant communities continue to be politically unaware and may not act as a cohesive political bloc. There is a feeling that sub-categorization will lead to polarization between these two sections – dominant and non-dominant – and the political direction is uncharted,” Prof Narayan said. “Only those who are very clear about where they draw their support base, like the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) and Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), as well as the JD-U (Janata Dal-United), which proposed the ‘Mahadalit’ category, have taken clear stands for and against the verdict,” he added.

The BJP and even the Congress are unsure whether polarisation will pay off politically and whether by taking a clear stand they will offend one group of communities over another.

Among the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies, opinions are also divided. LJP’s Chirag Paswan has spoken out against the verdict and is considering filing a redressal petition, while Jitan Ram Manjhi of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and the JD(U) have termed the verdict as validation of the JD(U)’s sub-classification of Mahadalits as Dalits in Bihar.

The Supreme Court verdict allowing state governments to sub-categorise Scheduled Caste communities is set to reset politics once again, not only along familiar fault lines but also into uncertain terrain for political parties, the BJP being no exception.