Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati Support Bharat Bandh Against Supreme Court Ruling on Reservations

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], August 21: Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday extended his support to the ‘Bharat Bandh’ called against the Supreme Court ruling that permits sub-classification within reservation categories for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. He stated that the mass movement to protect reservations is a positive effort and will instil new consciousness among the exploited and deprived.

Yadav emphasized, “The mass movement to protect reservations is a positive effort. It will instil new consciousness among the exploited and deprived and will prove to be a shield of people’s power against any kind of tampering with reservation. Peaceful movement is a democratic right.”

He further added that the public will have to take to the streets if the government tampers with the Constitution and the rights of people through scams and scandals. “Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar had already warned that the Constitution will only work if the intentions of those implementing it are correct. When the governments in power will tamper with the Constitution and the rights given by it through fraud, scams and scandals, then the public will have to take to the streets. Public movements put a check on unbridled government,” he said.

Meanwhile, the ‘Reservation Bachao Sangharsh Samiti’ is observing a day-long Bharat Bandh today to protest the Supreme Court’s recent judgment on reservations. Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati also extended her support to the ‘Bharat Bandh’ called against the SC ruling. Mayawati stated that there is anger and resentment against the SC’s decision among the people of these groups.

“BSP supports Bharat Bandh because there is anger and resentment against the Supreme Court’s decision regarding the sub-classification of SC/ST and creamy layer on 1 August 2024 due to the conspiracy against reservation by parties like BJP and Congress and their collusion to make it ineffective and finally end it,” Mayawati said in a post on X.

The Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling on August 1, ruled that states have the power to sub-classify SCs and STs and said that the authority concerned, while deciding if the class is adequately represented, must calculate adequacy based on effective and not quantitative representation. The Supreme Court ruled by a majority judgement of 6:1, that sub-classification within the SCs and STs reservation is permissible. As many as six separate opinions were delivered in the case.

The judgement was delivered by the seven-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, which overruled an earlier judgement in the EV Chinnaiah matter, which had held that sub-classification was not permissible because SC/STs form homogenous classes. Besides CJI Chandrachud, other judges on the bench were Justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath, Bela M Trivedi, Pankaj Mithal, Manoj Misra, and Satish Chandra Sharma.

Justice BR Gavai suggested that the state evolve a policy for identifying the creamy layer, even from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to exclude them from the benefit of affirmative action. Justice Bela M Trivedi, in a dissenting opinion, said that she disagreed with the majority judgement that sub-classification within the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes is permissible.