Bengaluru & New Delhi: When the Congress named B.N. Chandrappa considered one of its working presidents in Karnataka Monday, it made the strongest pitch but in its outreach to communities categorized as Scheduled Caste (SC)-Left within the runup to the meeting election subsequent month.
Chandrappa, a former MP, is a member of the Madiga group, who’re thought-about SC-Left in Karnataka — a grouping that’s usually seen to facet with the Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP).
The idea of ‘left’ and ‘right-hand’ castes goes again to mediaeval occasions and was as soon as prevalent in a lot of South India. In Karnataka, consultants say those that are actually thought-about ‘left’ have been traditionally among the many most oppressed, in comparison with others (now ‘proper’) who had considerably larger privileges .
The divide has continued into trendy occasions, with the ‘right-hand’ castes securing larger illustration in authorities jobs, in line with consultants. It has additionally discovered echoes in politics, with the ‘right-hand’ castes historically backing the Congress and the BJP making an attempt to woo the ‘left-hand’ castes.
It got here to the fore as soon as extra final month after Karnataka’s BJP authorities introduced inside reservation quotas — a long-standing demand — for various SC teams. The brand new scheme doesn’t simply divide SCs into ‘left’ and ‘proper’; it additionally consists of two extra classes for many who aren’t in both group: ‘touchables’ and ‘others’.
The federal government’s transfer has sparked protests from sections together with the ‘touchable’ Banjaras, in addition to smaller teams who are actually left with a really small slice of the pie; a lot of castes will now must compete for the 1 per cent ‘others’ quota.
Chatting with ThePrint, Chandrappa emphasised the broader significance of his appointment.
“In SC-Left, which is the larger group, there was some unhappiness that there was not sufficient illustration (within the Congress). My appointment additionally provides them prominence,” he mentioned.
Chandrappa joins different SC and Scheduled Tribe (ST) leaders from Karnataka within the senior ranks of the Congress. Whereas nationwide president Mallikarjun Kharge is from the Holeya group (SC-Proper), former Union minister Okay.H. Muniyappa is from the Madiga group (SC-Left). One among Chandrappa’s fellow working presidents within the state unit, Satish Jarkiholi, is from the Valmiki group, categorized as ST in Karnataka.
The BJP, in the meantime, has allotted “round eight seats” to SC-Proper candidates and and “round 9” to SC-Left candidates in its listing for the meeting polls, launched Wednesday, BJP SC Morcha state president Chalavadi Narayanaswamy instructed ThePrint. There seems to be extra of a give attention to the ‘touchables’ within the SC listing, who have gotten 15 seats.
In accordance with the 2011 census, SCs make up 17.5 per cent of Karnataka’s inhabitants, whereas STs account for six.95 per cent. Of the state’s 224 meeting constituencies, 36 are reserved for SCs and 15 for STs.
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Historical past of the divisions
Students are divided on the origins of the left-right classification. Some like Burton Stein have attributed it to a distinction between teams related to agriculture (‘proper’) and business or artisan teams (‘left’), however others resembling historian Y. Subbarayalu have traced it to divisions within the mediaeval Chola military; the phenomenon was additionally prevalent in Tamil Nadu.
D.G. Sagar, an activist with the Dalit Sangharsha Samiti, which fights for the rights of oppressed teams, characterises it as a distinction between those that historically labored the land and people concerned in different trades.
“Those that turned ‘left’ are individuals who have been concerned in leather-based work, cobblers amongst others,” he mentioned. Referring to the Holeyas, a ‘right-hand’ caste, he added, “Round Belagavi, Holeyas have been thought-about folks with information of the land.”
In 2005, the then Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) authorities in Karnataka had appointed a fee led by retired excessive court docket decide A.J. Sadashiva to inquire into the equitable distribution of reservation advantages amongst SCs. This got here following complaints that some teams have been cornering a lot of the advantages of reservations.
The fee submitted its findings to the D.V. Sadananda Gowda-led BJP authorities in 2012. In accordance with a press release it launched to the press, the fee had carried out a survey of 96.6 lakh SC folks, assessing their socio-economic scenario.
On the idea of this survey, the fee reportedly really useful that the 101 castes on the SC listing be divided into ‘left’, ‘proper’, ‘touchables’ and ‘others’, with separate quotas for every.
The time period ‘touchables’ right here refers to traditionally deprived communities — the main teams being Banjaras, Bhovis, Korachas and Koramas — who have been included alongside ‘untouchables’ within the depressed lessons listing of the erstwhile state of Mysore, and later included into the SC listing.
In accordance with reviews, the survey discovered that, the ‘left’ communities account for about 33.47 per cent of the SC inhabitants, ‘proper’ communities for 32 per cent, ‘touchables’ for 23.64 per cent and ‘others’ for 4.65 per cent. (Many survey respondents reportedly refused to reply, so these don’t add as much as 100 per cent). It estimated that there have been about 25 ‘right-hand’ communities and 20 ‘left-hand’ ones.
The fee reportedly really useful a 6 per cent quota for the ‘proper’ communities, 5 per cent for ‘left’, 3 per cent for ‘touchables’ and 1 per cent for ‘others’. Nonetheless, these suggestions have been by no means applied.
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Bommai govt’s inside reservation transfer
Whereas the Sadashiva Fee report was by no means tabled within the meeting, the Basavaraj Bommai-led authorities in Karnataka arrange a five-member cupboard subcommittee on inside reservations in December final 12 months. Then, on 23 March this 12 months, the federal government introduced its inside reservation coverage, with the cupboard adopting a decision to suggest these modifications to the Union authorities.
Within the new reservation breakup, there’s a 5.5 per cent quota for SC-Proper, 6 per cent for SC-Left, 4.5 per cent for ‘touchables’, and 1 per cent for ‘others’. Nonetheless, the federal government hasn’t offered an inventory of which communities will come underneath which class now.
This transfer has met with fierce opposition. Teams from the ‘touchable’ Banjara and Bhovi castes — who in line with analysts have been a few of the largest beneficiaries of reservation for SCs — are actually protesting towards being restricted to a quota of 4.5 per cent. On 27 March, Banjara protesters laid siege to BJP chief and former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s house in Shikaripura.
“There was 15 per cent reservation for SCs (elevated to 17 per cent through an ordinance final 12 months) however there isn’t any provision for inside reservation within the legislation or the Structure. It’s unlawful. It has failed in Andhra Pradesh. Now for extra votes, the BJP is backstabbing a group that has helped them develop in Karnataka,” Raghavendra Naik, a Congress employee from the Banjara group, instructed The Print.
The Alemari Budakattugala Mahasabha (ABM) — a physique representing a few of the smallest and most backward communities among the many SCs — can also be questioning the federal government’s transfer on inside reservation.
C.S. Dwarkanath, a former chairman of the Karnataka State Fee for Backward Lessons and honorary president of ABM, mentioned, “They (authorities) haven’t calculated the proportion of the inhabitants. There have been communities that have been thought-about Holeya-equivalent and Madiga-equivalent. Now they’ve all been eliminated and put individually (as ‘others’). With 89 communities, this can be a vital quantity, and only one per cent has been earmarked for them. There is no such thing as a scientific foundation, no background or any ethnographic research for this.”
Chatting with ThePrint, A. Narayanaswamy — a Dalit BJP chief from Karnataka who’s the Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment — mentioned that solely the Union authorities might add or take away communities from the SC/ST listing, however that states had the liberty and proper to demand inside reservations.
He added that Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, and Andhra Pradesh had all sought to implement inside reservations, however that the matter was caught of their respective excessive courts.
“The rationale for its stalling in excessive courts is that when Dr B.R. Ambedkar drafted the structure, he mentioned that these Scheduled Castes have been homogenous — and primarily based on this, judgments have been on condition that there isn’t any want for inside reservation,” Narayanaswamy instructed ThePrint. The minister additionally referred to a 2020 Supreme Courtroom judgment that held that states might introduce quotas inside quotas for SCs and STs.
He added that solely Tamil Nadu has applied inside reservations however that it has achieved so with out the approval of the Authorities of India or the Supreme Courtroom. This transfer in Tamil Nadu was just for instructional and financial causes and never political, he additional mentioned.
“The state authorities has all the fitting and freedom to go such an order. Whether or not or to not approve that is left to the Union authorities,” he mentioned.
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BJP’s Dalit outreach
In the summertime of 2018, Union house minister Amit Shah carried out a whirlwind tour of a number of mathas or monasteries in Karnataka’s Chitradurga forward of the meeting election. He additionally visited Basavamurthy Madara Chennaiah Swami, the top of the Madara Guru Peetha — a matha related to the Madiga (‘left’) group.
The video of Shah’s go to went viral on social media teams among the many group’s youth. And at across the identical time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had referred to the monastery head in a speech at Davanagere, to rapturous applause.
In accordance with one particular person conscious of the developments, then chief minister Siddaramaiah had handed the Madara Guru Peetha 4 occasions whereas in workplace however didn’t as soon as cease to pay his respects, whereas BJP leaders had ‘flown down from Delhi’ to go to— one thing members of the group considered as a badge of honour.
The BJP’s Dalit outreach in Karnataka has additionally included the promotion of leaders from the group. In September 2019, Narayanaswamy —the Chitradurga MP and now a Union minister — was allegedly denied entry into Gollarahatti village in Pavagada taluk of Tumakuru as a result of he was a Dalit.
However will such outreach and the brand new reservation coverage repay for the get together within the fast-approaching meeting election?
“There’s a insecurity within the BJP however there are makes an attempt being made to achieve out to them,” mentioned one workplace bearer of the BJP’s SC morcha in Karnataka, requesting anonymity.
“Even we all know this (inside reservation) is not going to be applied however introduced just for the elections,” he added.
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