Internal SC quota: Cong, BJP pass buck, no solution in sight

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The implementation of the AJ Sadashiva Commission has once again come to the fore with the ruling Congress and Opposition BJP pointing fingers at each other.

A couple of weeks ago, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet resolved to recommend to the Union government that the constitution be amended to enable internal reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs).

“The state Cabinet meeting held today resolved to recommend the Union government to amend article 341 of the constitution by adding a clause 3 in relation to the reservation for Scheduled Castes,” Siddaramaiah had said in an official release.

It had been rumoured for months that the State government would delegate the responsibility of implementing internal reservation for SCs to the Centre since it has become a political hot potato.

Internal reservation for SCs was recommended by the Sadashiva Commission, which was set up back in 2005 under the CongressJD(S) coalition government led by Dharam Singh and was finally submitted to the BJP government in 2012.

The report concluded that ritually right-hand Dalits namely Holeyas alongside “touchable” nomadic SCs like Bhovis and Lambanis had been cornering the quota.

It had added that ritually left hand Dalits like Madigas, apart from smaller castes had been deprived.

There are a total of 101 castes under the 15 per cent SC quota in Karnataka right now.

Holeyas and nomadic castes that fall under the SC quota fear losing out on a larger piece of the pie if the report is implemented while Madigas maintain that proportionate internal reservation would be a resolution.

The report had disclosed that Holeyas and its 24 subcastes constitute 32.01 per cent of the SC population. Madigas and its 29 sub-castes are 33.47 per cent.

“Touchable” nomadic castes are about 23.64 per cent while other Dalits are 4.65 per cent.

Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet also resolved that the touchable nomadic castes like Bhovis, Lambanis, Korama, Korachas and others be continued in the SC list. BJP’s Madig a Dalit face Govind Karjol, has blamed the government for “misleading people”.

He cited Justice Arunkumar Mishra’s Supreme Court ruling from 2021, stating that no amendment was necessary for the State government to provide internal reservation.

Others pointed out that Justice Santosh Hegde had given a judgement contradicting Justice Mishra. A SC bench should be able to put the matter to rest by taking a final call.

Critics have pointed out that Congress, like the BJP before it, doesn’t want to upset the ritually right handed Dalits and nomadic SCs by going ahead with internal reservation.