Naidu incurs scheduled castes's wrath

M S Shanker in Hyderabad

The Telugu Desam government's decision to categorise the scheduled castes into four categories -- 'A', 'B', 'C' and 'D' -- as per the Justice Ramachandra Raju commission report -- has created fresh problems for Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu.

Two dominant scheduled caste communities -- the Malas and the Madigas -- are already on warpath, demanding a better deal. The Madigas have been placed in category 'B' giving them a seven per cent share in the reservations while the Malas get six per cent in category 'C'.

Both communities feel they have been given a raw deal. The Malas have threatened to move the Supreme Court against the categorisation and have planned a massive rally in the coastal town of Kakinada. And the Madigas vowed not to rest till they get ''their rightful place in power''.

What seems to have irked the Madigas most was the timing of the government move, which was announced a day before the massive ''Chalo Hyderabad'' rally of the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti. Several Opposition leaders feel that the announcement was intended to pre-empt the rally.

The categorisation, however, had little impact on the Madigas, who flocked to Hyderabad last week even as the Samiti made its intentions clear. ''We are not going to fall prey to this kind of appeasement. Our objective is to seek justice in every walk of life,'' says Samiti convener P Krupakar Madiga.

Denying the allegations, the chief minister said, ''The decision was taken to do justice to the SCs. I can't buckle under pressure.'' Naidu is confident that the decision cannot be challenged in a court of law. His confidence stems from earlier court verdicts including the one by the Supreme Court upholding the categorisation of backward castes based on the Anantaraman committee report. Besides, he also refers to the categorisation of SCs into two groups in Punjab in 1979.

The state government has accepted only 10 of the 18 recommendations made by the commission which classified the 59 scheduled caste sub-sects on the basis of their population and socio-economic conditions.