A day after the nation-wide protest against the Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 2018, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale rejected the demand for rollback or dilution of the legislation passed recently by Parliament.
The Republican Party of India (Athawale) chief also refuted the charges levelled by Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, saying the ‘Bharat Bandh’ called by some upper caste organisations against the amendment to SC, ST Act was a conspiracy of the opposition parties to malign the Bharatiya Janata Party. He said the impact of the bandh was most visible only in BJP-ruled states.
“The SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill was unanimously passed by both the Houses of Parliament to protect the civil rights of the Dalits and protect them from atrocities so there was no question of dilution in the Act,” Athawale, an ally of the ruling National Democratic Alliance, said at a press conference here on Friday.
Refuting the charges levelled by Mayawati on Friday, the RPI leader said, “To draw political mileage, the opposition parties hatched the conspiracy to organise the bandh to malign the BJP governments in states.”
He said it was no coincidence that the impact of the bandh was seen most in the BJP-ruled poll-bound states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
“Let them do what they can but (Congress president) Rahul Gandhi and Mayawati will gain nothing from the negative politics they are pursuing.
Mayawati on Friday alleged that the BJP had engineered the bandh to deflect the attention from the real issue and the BJP was trying to spread caste tensions ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
On the advisory by the Union government to the media and state governments to refrain from using the word ‘Dalit’, the RPI leader said that his party would approach the Supreme Court against recent orders directing the media to refrain from using the term ‘Dalit’ and instead use the constitutional term ‘Scheduled Castes’ to refer to the community.
“The Union government seems to have issued the statement on the orders of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court. In fact, it was our Dalit Panthers movement that started using the term as a mark of pride. ‘Dalit’ was used to refer to all those who are from lower socio-economical background and it is in no way an insult,” Athawale said.
The RPI leader said that decades ago, when the government decided not to use the term ‘Harijan’ — coined by Mahatma Gandhi to refer to Dalits — and instead use ‘Scheduled Caste’ for official purposes, it was in keeping with the sentiments of the community that did not like being called so.
“Earlier this year, our Social Justice Ministry also had issued orders asking government departments to stick to the term ‘Scheduled Caste’. It is all right to say that in official written documents the term ‘Schedule Caste’ should be used,” Athawale said.
Athawale also reacted to by Madhya Pradesh-based upper caste outfits’ call for the ‘Bharat Bandh’ on Thursday. saying, “My message to all Brahmin groups who say that the Act would be misused is that if you don’t commit atrocities against Dalits, there is no fear of the Act being applied to you.”
The Union minister said that caste-based tensions could be reduced by giving 25 per cent reservations to the poor among the upper castes by increasing the quota limit to 75 per cent.
“The reason behind the tension is reservation to SC, ST and OBCs, that is around 50 per cent.... If upper castes are given 25 per cent reservation, without disturbing the quota for the SC, ST, OBCs, the ongoing tension can be ended. I have raised this issue before Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Athawale said.
The RPI chief added that the existing reservation system “should not be disturbed” but people of upper castes, who were not in the creamy layer or earning Rs 8 lakh a year, should be given 25 per cent quota in education and government jobs.
The Union minister said the government could consider the issue of reservation in promotions for other backward castes and Dalits in the winter session of Parliament.