After years of struggle, the Supreme Court finally announced its verdict on SC/ST sub-categorization on Thursday. The seven-judge bench has stated, ‘while providing the sub-classification of SC/ST, the state would not be entitled to reserve 100 percent seats available for SC in favor of a subclass to the exclusion of other castes’.
Coming to credit claims for the Supreme Court Verdict:
BRS party leaders Harish Rao and KTR have claimed that sub-categorization was the initiative of KCR in 2014, when he, along with Manda Krishna Madiga, went to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and presented a resolution for sub-categorization. However, KCR is not the first person to do so. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, while speaking at the ‘Mana Niru Mana Sampada’ program on Thursday, said that TDP was the first party to step forward for SC categorization in 1996. They had also set up the Justice Ramachandra Raju Commission for categorization at that time.
Even before that, the Congress Chief Minister of Punjab in 1975, the Congress CM of Haryana in 1994, and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, who made two categories – Dalits and Mahadalits – in his state in 2008, along with many other political parties in the country, came out in support of SC/ST sub-classification.
Regarding the Telugu states, Madiga Community leader Manda Krishna Madiga has lauded Chandrababu Naidu for his initiation of sub-categorization in the united Andhra Pradesh.
The SC/ST sub-categorization was welcomed by all parties, but the credit claim game of political parties for this sub-categorization is still ongoing.
-Sanyogita
