With divergent views on Dalit sub-quota, Congress delays spelling out view on SC verdict

The Congress party’s stony silence on the Supreme Court’s August 1 verdict upholding the right of states to sub-classify Scheduled Castes (SCs) notified in the Presidential List is unlikely to break for some time.

With differing opinion on the verdict, both within the party and among INDIA bloc allies, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, decided late on Tuesday (August 6) evening that they would spell out their party’s stand on the apex court’s decision only after “extensive consultations” with chief ministers of Congress-ruled states, state Congress chiefs and civil society groups.

From praising verdict to reserving comments

The Congress believes that the 6:1 majority verdict by a Constitution Bench, which makes collection of empirical data a pre-requisite for sub-categorisation of Dalits, vindicates Rahul and the INDIA bloc’s strident demands for a socio-economic caste census. However, the Congress high command also appears to be of the view that an emphatic endorsement of the judgment merely because it buttresses the rationale behind a caste census could prove counter productive.

The Federal had reported on August 2 that opinion within the Congress and among its allies was divided on the judgment and that the Congress high command had sought a detailed view on the finer nuances of the verdict from “legal luminaries” of the party, such as senior advocates P Chidambaram, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Salman Khurshid and Vivek Tankha.

In the immediate aftermath of the verdict, with Rahul away in his former Lok Sabha constituency of Wayanad, which has been devastated due to landslides, and Kharge occupied with a slew of pre-arranged meetings and his parliamentary duties as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, a section of party leaders had indicated that the “overwhelming view was in favour of the judgment”. This, sources said, was so because the court seemed to have tacitly endorsed the need for a caste census by stressing that sub-classification and consequent grant of “more beneficial treatment” to prove “inadequacy of representation in services of the State” must be done based on “empirical data”.

Leaders advise more deliberations

Sources told The Federal that the a statement welcoming the judgment had even been prepared by a senior member of the Congress’s communications team late on August 1 and sent to Kharge and Rahul for their approval. The Congress president, a Dalit himself, however, seems to have reverted advising restraint and the need for further deliberations. Kharge’s intervention appears to have saved his party some blushes.

Over the past week since the court’s pronouncement, a number of party leaders, particularly those from Dalit and tribal communities, have urged the high command “not to hurry into welcoming the verdict” and instead “holding widest possible discussions on the subject with those who will be directly impacted by it”.

Several party leaders, it is learnt, have also urged the Congress to file a curative petition before the apex court against the verdict while others have asked Kharge and Rahul, LoPs in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, respectively, to pressure the Narendra Modi government to “bring a legislation that would reverse the effect of the court’s judgment”.

Silver lining

On Tuesday, Congress’s communications chief Jairam Ramesh told reporters after the consultations at Kharge’s residence, “the meeting went on for an hour and a half. The Congress president will now meet our chief ministers. He will also speak with PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) chiefs and leaders of various state units as well as civil society groups... we will take a decision in the next two-three weeks regarding this verdict.”

Ramesh also claimed that the verdict had made two things quite clear. First, that a nationwide caste census “has now become essential”, and next, that the judgment had made it imperative to “remove the 50 per cent ceiling on reservation”. Yet, the party would not rush into giving its official view on the judgment as a whole until deliberations on its political and social implications are concluded.

Sources told The Federal that the Congress leadership is also keen to weigh in on the views of its INDIA bloc partners before firming up its stand on the verdict.

Divergent views

The judgment, which paves the way for state governments to create a quota within the quota presently reserved for SCs in government jobs and educational institutions in order to give the more backward Dalit sub-castes greater benefits under the affirmative action plan, has deeply polarised political opinion.

Despite the Congress not spelling out its stand on the verdict, two of its three chief ministers – Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah and Telangana’s Revanth Reddy – were quick to welcome the court’s decision. In contrast, two of the party’s senior Dalit leaders, Sirsa MP Kumari Selja and former chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, PL Punia, have, respectively, dubbed the judgment as being “absolutely wrong” and “against the interests of the Dalit community”.

The divergent views on the judgment extend to both the ruling NDA coalition as well as the Opposition’s INDIA bloc. While INDIA bloc constituents, the CPI(M) and the DMK, have unequivocally hailed the verdict, major alliance members such as Lalu Yadav’s RJD and Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party have opposed it. Likewise, within the NDA, while the BJP is yet to enunciate its view on the decision, JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar and HAM founder Jitan Ram Manjhi have welcomed it. Union minister Chirag Paswan has said his party, the LJP (RV), would seek a review of the verdict.

‘Verdict to open Pandora’s Box of problems’

A cross-section of Congress leaders from the Dalit, tribal and OBC communities believe that unqualified support for the judgment would “open a Pandora’s Box of problems” as it could trigger demands for sub-classification among tribals and OBCs too. These leaders argue that the judgment will end up “pitting one Dalit sub-caste against another Dalit sub-caste or one tribal group against another” and could also “trigger social unrest”.