Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Divergent Stands on Supreme Court Order | Patna News – Times of India
Patna: Leaders of two NDA partners and Union ministers—Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi—have taken mutually conflicting positions on the last week’s Supreme Court order that permitted states to sub-categorise castes within the Scheduled Castes (SC) based on socio-economic backwardness and degree of under-representation in govt jobs to ensure that the larger pie of 15% SC quota goes to backwards among them.It also asked govts to devise suitable criteria to bar the ‘creamy layer’ among SCs and STs from availing reservation.
The Supreme Court in its order on Thursday asked the respective state govts to take necessary follow-up action.
Dalits in south India have welcomed the judgment, but outfits in north India, including those in Bihar, have shown conflicting positions.
On Sunday, Chirag told mediapersons here that his party would file a review petition in the Supreme Court and plead for a review of its judgment delivered on Thursday. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati also opposed the judgment. In contrast, Manjhi extended “wholehearted welcome” to the order, adding that it “should have come ten years before.”
Chirag maintained that “creamy layer” could not be the criteria for looking at the reservation benefits granted to SC groups in the Constitution. “It was on the basis of the prevalence of centuries old untouchability that the reservation benefit was granted to the SC groups,” he said, adding that his party would file a review petition in the apex court against the order.
However, when told about Chirag’s stand on the Supreme Court order, Manjhi said, “Those who are taking that kind of position on the matter are being selfish. I welcome the order and it should have come ten years ago.”
“It is only three to four castes among Dalits who are taking all the benefits. It is from among them that there are IAS and IPS officers, as well as engineers, and all other groups are lagging behind,” Manjhi said.
“Where does this happen that those who have taken lead should keep on advancing, and those who are lagging behind should continue to be in that situation,” Manjhi said. He said lack of education is the main factor that Bhuiya, Musahar, Dom, Mehtar, besides others, have lagged behind.
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