New Delhi, August 22: Government will amend the Constitution to restore reservation in promotions for dalits, with the political class barring Samajwadi Party and National Conference joining hands to back it at the all-party meeting on Tuesday.
Although the parties did not fix a timeline on when the Centre should bring the constitutional amendment bill in Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured BSP chief Mayawati and LJP's Ramvilas Paswan that government would try to meet their demand to introduce the legislation in the ongoing session.
"We will try to bring the bill in this session itself," minister of state in the PMO V Narayasamy told TOI after the meeting.
'Quota in promotion' for SCs and STs was in force before coming under threat following a Supreme Court judgment in April which stressed that in order to continue with them, government needed to establish with "quantifiable data" that dalits and tribals were sufficiently "backward" and inadequately represented in public services.
The insistence surprised dalit parties and activists because there is unanimity that criteria of "representation" and "backwardness" were relevant only for OBCs. The debate turned sensitive after many states seized upon SC's April order to stop promotion quota.
The overwhelming support for quota at the meeting was marked by demands that it be extended to OBCs. However, the majority did not favour fusing the two, reflecting the consensus that the disability of the dalits and tribals were far more severe for them to be put on the same pedestal as the politically powerful OBCs.
The resistance put up by upper caste lobbies in Congress and BJP was also ignored by the leadership.
However, Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and brother Ramgopal Yadav were vocal in opposing the move, arguing it led to social heartburn and vitiated social harmony. They argued that all top positions in "work departments" in Uttar Pradesh were occupied by SCs, with OBCs and general candidates unable to move beyond the rank of superintending engineer.
However, the Yadav duo faced a sharp riposte from Paswan who said Mulayam showed no concern for heartburn among officials belonging to general category when he championed implementation of Mandal report for reservation for OBCs in government.
Though armed with a political consensus, the Centre faces a tricky challenge of drafting a statute amendment which would stand legal scrutiny. The government has been worried that apex court had found fault with more than one constitutional change. BJP's Sushma Swaraj cautioned that government should take care to ensure that the legislation passed judicial muster.
It is feared that a simplistic attempt to block applicability of the criteria of 'adequate representation' and 'backwardness' to promotion quota would invite legal scrutiny from the apex court since the latter had stressed on their importance in two separate judgments.
JD(U) seized the occasion to seek quota for OBCs along with DMK. BJP backed the move wholeheartedly. DMK's T R Baalu said a separate bill should be brought for backwards, reminding that in 1995, social justice minister Sitaram Kesri, who later became the Congress chief, had assured the parliament to this effect.
Sources said Paswan told the PM that nobody could take away reservation that were secured by Ambedkar, claiming there could have been a "achhootistan" (state of untouchables) if it was not given.
JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav stressed with figures how backward castes representation in A and B category of services were low, hovering around 5.5% and 3.9% in central services. While he did not oppose SC/ST quota, he was seen to demand similar benefit for OBCs.
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