BSP leader Mayawati on Sunday strongly disapproved of the recent Supreme Court ruling allowing sub-classification within the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and called for its reversal in Parliament.
Addressing a press conference, Mayawati termed the judgment of the SC, which authorized states to form sub-categories within SCs and STs for the purpose of reservation with the aim of uplifting more disadvantaged sub-groups, as 'wrong' and 'improper'. She said that the ruling can deprive the existing reservations for SCs and STs and can divert these quotas to the general category.
The order will turn out to be the beginning of the end of reservation for SCs and STs, she said. It could also act as an open invitation for States to snatch away these reservation benefits from SC/STs. She demanded that Parliament negate this judicial activism by incorporating reservation provisions in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, which immunizes certain laws from judicial scrutiny. Though started with the stated purpose of land reforms, this schedule has been a dumping ground for a plethora of reservation-related Acts.
Mayawati has also stressed that problems and challenges of SCs and STs are collective and hence dividing them is not apt. She has appealed to the Supreme Court for review of its judgment since, according to her, elimination of reservation policies would shatter millions of Dalits and tribals who depend on such provisions for their socio-economic upliftment.
She also targeted both the ruling BJP and Congress over handling of the issue, accusing them of failing to support SCs, STs adequately. Mayawati asked the BJP-led government to amend the Constitution for putting the reservation system within the Ninth Schedule if they actually wish to support SC/ST people.
She termed the judgment of the Supreme Court as "vague" and feared that the verdict may just turn out to be redundant while making the existing benefits of reservation ineffective, thus defeating its purpose for the needy. For her, the reservation system forms the keystone of educational, social, and economic inequalities; hence, any changes must be dealt with caution.
Further, Mayawati said that the new ruling can lead to friction between the central and state governments since political parties will take full advantage of the situation to use it to the benefit of certain castes for electoral gains at the cost of compromising on the integrity of the reservation system.
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