With one of its decisions, Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah government has on one hand tried to fulfill an election promise of Congress and on the other hand has put BJP in trouble.
The Siddaramaiah Cabinet on Thursday decided to recommend internal reservation (quota within quota) among the Scheduled Caste (SC) community to the Central government on the basis of the report of Justice AJ Sadashiva Commission on Reservation.
The Congress party had promised to implement this reservation before the assembly elections held in May last year.
Addressing the media after the cabinet meeting, state law minister HK Patil and social welfare minister HC Mahadevappa said the state cabinet has given constitutional powers to the states to revise the reservation as per the new census and to amend Article 341 of the Constitution. It has been decided to make recommendations to the Central Government to empower it.
Under Article 341(1) of the Constitution, the list of Scheduled Castes eligible for reservation is to be prepared by the State and then notified by the President. However, addition or deletion of any caste or group from the list can be done only by making a law by the Parliament.
What is internal reservation?
In the year 2005, the then Congress-JDS government appointed retired High Court Justice A.J. A commission was formed under the leadership of Sadashiv, which was given the responsibility of examining the equitable distribution of reservation benefits among the Scheduled Castes.
This step was taken on complaints that the benefit of 15 percent SC reservation was limited to people of certain castes.
The Commission had broadly divided all the 101 castes of the Scheduled Caste category into four groups i.e. SC (Left), SC (Right), SC (Touchable) and SC (Others) and the overall reservation of 15 percent being given was divided among them. It was recommended to distribute.
In March last year, the then BJP government in Karnataka, just before the assembly elections, had decided to give internal reservation among 101 Scheduled Castes, i.e. quota within the quota to the same community.
The BJP government had increased the reservation from 15 per cent to 17 per cent and under the new reservation formula, SC (Left) would get 6 per cent, SC (Right) would get 5.5 per cent, SC (Touchable) would get 4.5 per cent and SC (Other) would get One percent reservation was given.
However, BJP failed to garner the support of voters and faced defeat in the assembly elections.
Last year, BJP had to face opposition to this move. Groups of ‘touchable’ Banjara and Bhovi castes – who according to analysts were some of the biggest beneficiaries of reservation for the Scheduled Castes – were now protesting against being limited to a quota of 4.5 per cent. On March 27, Banjara protesters also pelted stones at the house of BJP leader and former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa in Shikaripura.
What is the problem before BJP?
Siddaramaiah, moving forward on the political pitch, has put the ball in the court of the Central Government to give constitutional security cover to this reservation.
Earlier, the BJP government had not taken concrete steps to give constitutional and legal recognition to internal reservation. Siddaramaiah government has taken this step when Lok Sabha elections are going to be held in a few months.
If the Central Government accepts this proposal and provides it security and legal recognition under Article 341(1) of the Constitution, then this step will go in favor of the Congress Party and even if the Central Government stops it, Congress will still raise that issue. BJP can cash in on the elections by terming it anti-Dalit.