New Delhi: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday pointed out that her party disagrees with the Supreme Court’s ruling that allows sub-classification within the Scheduled Castes.
Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, former UP chief minister said, “The sub-classification of people within Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) has been permitted, our party (BSP) doesn’t agree with it at all.”
The BSP supremo added that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre did not object to the verdict and the lawyers who represented the government presented such arguments that helped the Supreme Court deliver the decision, PTI reported. “Lawyers from either Congress’ side or representing the government, both facilitated the Supreme Court,” Mayawati claimed.
“This reflects that they don’t have the right intention. Instead of ending the quota given to SCs and STs themselves, they are trying to end it through the judiciary and they have mostly been successful in it,” she said.
In a significant ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court said that states are constitutionally empowered to make sub-classifications within the Scheduled Castes, which form a socially heterogeneous class, for granting reservation for the uplift of castes that are socially and educationally more backward.
“Because the atrocities faced by the people of SCs and STs have been faced as a group and this group is equal in which it would not be right to do any kind of sub-classification,” Mayawati said.
The verdict overruled the 2004 ruling in EV Chinnaiah vs the State of Andhra Pradesh, in which a five-judge bench had held that sub-classification was not permissible. It had underlined that SC/STs form homogenous classes.
The Thursday verdict said that the states must identify the ‘creamy layer’ within the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and take them out of quota. The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will be filing a review petition against the verdict.
“Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) is not in favour of the Supreme Court’s decision on reservation in sub-categories for SC-ST categories. The party’s founder Padma Bhushan Ram Vilas Paswan ji has also been demanding that as long as there is a practice of untouchability against the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the society, there should not be any provision for reservation in sub-categories and creamy layer for SC-ST categories,” the party posted in Hindi on X.
