NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party’s Dalit functionaries have dubbed the proposal of sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes a ploy to “divide and rule”, arguing that the party stands strongly for the unity of the community as prescribed by Ambedkar.
Veteran MPs RK Chaudhary and Awadhesh Prasad told TOI that division of SCs into sub-groups will sound the death knell of Dalit unity, which cannot be accepted.“SP led by Akhilesh Yadav stands resolutely with the SC/ST community. SCs are one bloc and there should be no change in it,” he said.
The views of the MP duo from Uttar Pradesh came as SP is positioning itself to tap into BSP’s support base which has diminished amid steady erosion of its Dalit base. Several BSP members have joined SP, with Chaudhary being a key figure from Kanshi Ram’s era. As Mayawati has come out strongly against the Supreme Court judgment on sub-categorisation and has historically stood for a single bloc of SCs, the views of SP’s Dalit brass are politically significant given its firm eyes on the fragmenting BSP vote bank.
Chaudhary said Kanshi Ram played a big role in uniting Dalits across divisions and sub-catergorisation will be an assault on that unity. “Kanshi Ram believed they should unite and only with the united struggle of the ‘Bahujan Samaj’ which includes SC, ST and OBCs, can the community succeed in securing its participation (in the society),” he said.
Prasad said Ambedkar enshrined in the Constitution the privilege for the entire SC community and “splitting them as Pasi, Raidas, Dhanuk, Koeri” will not work. Questioning the argument over affirmative action benefits being monopolized by some dominant sub-castes, Chaudhary said sub-categorisation is not the answer to the issue. “The Supreme Court has not studied the issue but decided according to the ‘mahaul’… nobody is stopping the other (weaker) sub-castes,” he said.
Veteran MPs RK Chaudhary and Awadhesh Prasad told TOI that division of SCs into sub-groups will sound the death knell of Dalit unity, which cannot be accepted.“SP led by Akhilesh Yadav stands resolutely with the SC/ST community. SCs are one bloc and there should be no change in it,” he said.
The views of the MP duo from Uttar Pradesh came as SP is positioning itself to tap into BSP’s support base which has diminished amid steady erosion of its Dalit base. Several BSP members have joined SP, with Chaudhary being a key figure from Kanshi Ram’s era. As Mayawati has come out strongly against the Supreme Court judgment on sub-categorisation and has historically stood for a single bloc of SCs, the views of SP’s Dalit brass are politically significant given its firm eyes on the fragmenting BSP vote bank.
Chaudhary said Kanshi Ram played a big role in uniting Dalits across divisions and sub-catergorisation will be an assault on that unity. “Kanshi Ram believed they should unite and only with the united struggle of the ‘Bahujan Samaj’ which includes SC, ST and OBCs, can the community succeed in securing its participation (in the society),” he said.
Prasad said Ambedkar enshrined in the Constitution the privilege for the entire SC community and “splitting them as Pasi, Raidas, Dhanuk, Koeri” will not work. Questioning the argument over affirmative action benefits being monopolized by some dominant sub-castes, Chaudhary said sub-categorisation is not the answer to the issue. “The Supreme Court has not studied the issue but decided according to the ‘mahaul’… nobody is stopping the other (weaker) sub-castes,” he said.