Chirag reaching out to Dalit MPs to challenge SC verdict

Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas leader Chirag Paswan is planning to convene a meeting of Scheduled Caste MPs of different parties as he works to mobilise support ahead of his party filing a review plea in the Supreme Court against its judgment allowing sub-categorisation of reservation within the community.

The LJP-Ram Vilas leader has already expressed his disagreement with the verdict and said his party will file a review petition in the apex court.

Paswan, sources said, has reached out to Scheduled Caste MPs to gauge their view over the verdict, a judgment of far-reaching political impact over which major national parties have maintained silence while engaging in internal stock-taking deliberations, and may convene a formal meeting soon.

It remains to be seen, though, what the response of the Scheduled Caste MPs of different parties will be, many of whom have spoken in different voices depending on the mood of their constituencies.

The parties like Paswan's or Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party, which draw support from numerically strong SC communities which fare better than other Dalit castes on social and economic metrics, have come out openly against the judgment.

However, another Dalit ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has lauded the verdict, saying that his community of Manjhis are 'grossly under-represented' in the benefits brought by quota as better-off SC communities corner most of the positions in jobs and educational institutes on offer.

The critics of the verdict have argued that a chunk of vacancies reserved for the SCs often remain open due to a lack of adequately qualified applicants, saying introducing sub-quotas for different castes within the larger quota will only worsen the problem.

Both the ruling BJP and the main opposition Congress have not taken a categorical stand on the issue, leaving it to their state leaders to frame their responses based on regional sensibilities.

A seven-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud had ruled on August 1 by a 6:1 majority that the further sub-classification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by the states can be permitted to ensure grant of quota to more backward castes inside these groups.