Not even three months have passed since the Supreme Court’s decision on intra-quota quotas, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has taken steps in this direction. In the first cabinet meeting, the newly formed Naib Singh Saini government in Haryana decided to include those castes that are less represented in the field of education and employment by creating a sub-category for SC-ST. This decision by Haryana is also said to be a message to be implemented by NDA-ruled states.
Prime Minister Modi has already given the message at the meeting of chief ministers of the NDA government states to study each other’s plans and implement them in their states as well. The question is that at a time when elections are being held in states like Maharashtra and Jharkhand, by-elections are being held in states like UP-Bihar and even the opposition and its allies like Chirag Paswan are openly opposing them, why is the BJP is it moving forward? Is the subquota formula increasing? Reacting to the Haryana government’s decision, Chirag again made it clear that the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) does not support it.
Why is the BJP growing with the sub-quota formula?
Assembly elections will be held next year in a state like Bihar where reservation is a sentiment issue. Be it the opposition to Chirag or the RJD Congress, caste politics and caste-based reasons are said to be the reason behind this, but despite the opposition from its ally LJPR, about a year before the elections of Bihar, the BJP has indicated that it will make progress in the sub-Congress. quota formula. So the party also has its own strategy behind this. This can be understood in four points.
1- electoral impact test
A strategy of the BJP has also been to conduct electoral tests to gauge the public mood on certain issues. Even as the Congress was more aggressive on the caste census issue, the BJP had stayed away from it in the elections in four states, including Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. This was also seen in relation to the BJP’s strategy to estimate the electoral impact of this issue.
The election results favored the BJP and the party also contested the Lok Sabha elections with the same strategy. However, he had to suffer a defeat in a state like UP in the Lok Sabha elections. Now, along with assembly elections in Jharkhand and Maharashtra, by-elections are being held for 47 assembly seats in a dozen states, including UP-Bihar. If the BJP government in Haryana has taken action in all categories this election season, the same strategy is hidden behind it.
2- Selective work in states.
A BJP strategy could also be to work selectively. In states like Haryana, where the BJP does not depend much on SC-ST votes, the party can take steps in this direction. If the results of this initiative are good in these states, then the party can take it as a model in future in states with complex caste politics like UP and Bihar.
3- Emphasis on creating Dalit cadres
For the BJP, there is a ‘nothing to lose, everything to gain’ situation with this decision. In a state like Bihar, the party depends on other parties to get Dalit votes, while in UP too it does not have a strong hold on the non-Jatav Dalit vote bank. Even in Madhya Pradesh, Congress’ control over the tribal vote bank is considered strong.
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In Haryana too, a section of Dalits voted for the Congress in the name of Kumari Shailaja, while a party like the BSP also recorded its electoral presence with a vote share of around four per cent. In such a situation, the BJP’s strategy is to create its base of cadres in the SC-ST category like Nitish Kumar. The party hopes that the castes that will be included in the subcategory can accompany it.
4- All categories already in Bihar
There are already Dalits and Mahadalits in Bihar. In such a situation, this step of the Haryana government will have a greater impact on the elections in the state, perhaps the party leadership has not felt this way. In fact, the Nitish Kumar-led government had placed the rest of the Dalit castes in the Mahadalit category, except Paswan, the Lok Janshakti Party’s top voter. The result of this was that although Jitan Ram Manjhi hails from the Musahar community included in Mahadalit, Nitish’s hold on the vote bank of this class is considered much stronger than his. Now BJP also seems to be growing on the same path as Haryana.
What was the Supreme Court’s decision?
The Supreme Court’s decision came on August 1. Overturning the 2004 decision, the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had said that states have the right to create quotas within the reservation quotas. After this decision, which came with a majority of 6-1, the way was cleared for state governments to create sub-categories regarding Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
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Along with the opposition parties, Lok Janshakti Party chief (Ram Vilas) and Union minister Chirag Paswan, who is part of the NDA government at the Centre, also expressed opposition to this decision of the court. Chirag’s party had also supported the Bharat Bandh called by the opposition. Later the Center distanced itself saying that it was not going to take any action in this regard.
