Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment A. Narayanaswamy said that the matter of internal reservation is sub-judice and pending in the Supreme Court when asked whether the Union Government is considering a constitutional amendment to allow Karnataka to provide internal reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs).
Answering a question in the Rajya Sabha on July 26, he further said that, of the 20 States and 2 Union Territories that have responded, 13 States had opposed the recommendation of National Commission to examine sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes to amend Article 341 of the Constitution.
The Minister’s response has created a stir in Karnataka, as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government (2019-23) in Karnataka had got approval in the State Cabinet for internal reservation for SCs, held a convention in Hubballi to celebrate the development, and listed it among the achievements of the party in its election manifesto. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had assured the people of Karnataka that the Union Government would implement internal reservation.
Several leaders among the ‘left’ sub-groups of Dalits, who have been fighting for internal reservation for decades, have come down heavily on BJP for ‘misleading’ the community for electoral gains in the run-up to the Assembly elections in May 2023.
K.P. Santosh Kodihalli, an activist fighting for internal reservation, said, “If now the government hints at not planning to bring a constitutional amendment to implement internal reservation because it is sub-judice, which it was from 2020, why did the BJP governments, both in the State and the Centre, give an impression in March-April 2023 that this would be implemented? Moreover, why cannot a constitutional amendment be brought in even if the matter is sub-judice?
“BJP has been viewing the issue of internal reservation only from the lens of electoral politics, with no commitment to the welfare of the communities, despite benefitting from their electoral support on these very grounds.”
Senior Dalit activist Ambanna Arolika said the community, which had supported BJP in at least three Assembly elections since 2008, had seen through the party’s ‘charade’ in the run-up to the 2023 Assembly polls, prompting a significant section of the community to shift their support to the Congress. Mr. Ambanna said he had also supported the Congress, as he was ‘upset at how BJP was misleading the community’. He claimed that the BJP strategy was exposed by the Union Minister’s response in Rajya Sabha.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has also come down heavily on the BJP and tweeted that the incident had again exposed the ‘lies and hypocrisy of the BJP’. Citing Union Minister A. Narayanaswamy’s reply in the Rajya Sabha, he said: “Then how did BJP Karnataka send the proposal for internal reservation to the Union Government in March? Why did BJP mislead the people of Karnataka before the elections? People of Karnataka were aware of BJP’s hypocrisy. And hence, they voted BJP out of power.”
Former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, whose cabinet recommended implementation of internal reservation, has shot back claiming there is no contradiction in what his government had said and what Union Minister A. Narayanaswamy has told the Rajya Sabha. “The Union Minister has only stated the facts as of today. There is no provision for internal reservation in the Constitution as it stands today. Our government had recommended to the Union Government to bring in a constitutional amendment to Article 341 to make it possible. Yes, the subject was sub-judice even when we made our recommendation,” he said.
