Congress vs Congress: TN MPs, Dalit leader oppose EWS decision as party officially welcomes it
Jairam Ramesh welcomed SC’s decision on 10 per cent quota for EWS and praised Manmohan Singh’s efforts. Dissenting voices call it ‘setback’ to ‘fight for social justice’.
ISHADRITA LAHIRI
New Delhi: A difference of opinion has emerged in the Congress party over the Supreme Court’s decision to back a 10 per cent quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in unreserved categories. The quota applies to government jobs and admissions to state-run as well as private, unaided educational institutions.
While Congress Rajya Sabha MP and general secretary in-charge for communications Jairam Ramesh officially welcomed the decision on behalf of the party, two Lok Sabha MPs from Tamil Nadu, Karti Chidambaram and Jothimani, were less enthusiastic about the “social justice” implications. Udit Raj, a Dalit Congress leader from Delhi also spoke out against the “upper caste mindset” of the Supreme Court.
In his statement, Ramesh said that the Congress “welcomes” the judgment “upholding the 103rd Constitutional Amendment that provides for the 10% reservation quota for the Economically Weaker Sections belonging to castes other than Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs”.
However, Congress MP from Sivaganga Chidambaram, while speaking to ThePrint, said that a “wholesale welcoming of the judgment is not appropriate at this stage”.
Another Tamil Nadu Congress MP from Karur, Jothimani, tweeted to say that the Supreme Court judgment is a “major setback for the century-long struggle for social justice”.
The EWS issue is an emotive one in Tamil Nadu. The ruling party in the state, the DMK, was one of the petitioners in the case and had decided not to provide the EWS quota for government jobs. The DMK and Congress are in an alliance in Tamil Nadu.
Eight of the Congress’s 53 MPs in the Lok Sabha come from the state. On Monday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, much like Jothimani, called the SC’s decision a “setback to the centuries-old fight for social justice”. He said he would consult legal experts to chalk out the next course of action.
The EWS quota was introduced through the 103rd constitutional amendment, cleared in January 2019, by the BJP-run central government. It was instantly challenged in the Supreme Court.
The quota bypassed affirmative action that benefits communities traditionally marginalised in Indian society, like the SC, ST, and OBC.
Petitions had questioned how the quota could cross the 50 per cent national cap on reservation set by the Supreme Court in 1992 and whether it changed the “basic structure” of the constitution. The quota was “a deceitful and backdoor attempt to destroy the concept of reservation”, said petitioners.
Most opposition parties, including the Congress, did not oppose the law. But as many as 40 petitions were heard by the SC against it, including by the state of Tamil Nadu, which has among the highest reservations in the country (69 per cent).
On Monday, a five-judge bench of the SC, in a 3-2 judgment, said that the EWS quota is not discriminatory and does not alter the basic structure of the constitution. Two judges dissented, including Chief Justice U.U. Lalit, who retires Tuesday.
Ramesh praises Manmohan, TN MPs resist
In his statement, Ramesh praised former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for initiating the process that resulted in the amendment.
“The amendment itself was the result of a process initiated by Dr. Manmohan Singh’s government in 2005-06 with the appointment of the Sinho Commission that submitted its report in July 2010. Thereafter, widespread consultations were held and the bill was ready by 2014”, said Ramesh.
He added that it took the Modi government five years to get the Bill enacted.
“It also bears mention here that the Socio-Economic and the Caste Census was completed by 2012, when I myself was the Union rural development minister. The Modi sarkar has yet to clarify its position on an updated Caste Census, something that the Congress party supports and demands,” he said.
However Karti Chidambaram said that the EWS quota was “complicated” if looked at from a social justice perspective.
“The judgment of the EWS is not a unanimous one. It’s 3-2. This clearly indicates that there are conflicting positions and contrasting arguments which are still alive. It’s not an inclusive quota,” he said.
He said that the criteria for the EWS is very arbitrary and the methodology used by the original commission that came up with the idea leaves many questions unanswered.
“The debate is not a settled position and a wholesale welcoming of the judgment, in my opinion, is not appropriate at this stage. For Tamil Nadu, which has been at the forefront of the social justice movement, this judgment is not aligned with the progressive thinking of the state”, he added.
In another tweet, Jothimani said that reservation was created to “fight against social oppression, create equal opportunities, and empower the oppressed communities”. According to her, it was “unconstitutional to justify reservations on economic grounds without considering social oppression” and diluted the policy of reservations.
‘Upper caste mindset’
Congress leader from Delhi, Udit Raj, spoke up against the SC decision, saying that the court displayed an “upper caste mindset”. Taking to Twitter, he wrote that the Supreme Court had done a “U-turn on what it had been holding” ever since the Indra Sawhney judgment (also known as the Mandal verdict).
“Whenever SC/ST/OBC reservation matters came, SC always reminded the limit of 50 per cent,” tweeted Raj, who is the national chairman of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations.
He added that the Indra Sawhney judgment came from a nine-judge bench and the EWS judgment of five judges overruled it. “Had it been the matter of SC/ST/OBC, this judgment would have been different,” he said.
Courtesy : The Print
Note: This news piece was originally published in theprint.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights .