M A I N   N E W S

Caught in bind over SC/ST quota, PM calls all-party meet
Anita Katyal
Our Political Correspondent

New Delhi, May 16
Responding promptly to a recent animated debate in the Rajya Sabha on amending the Constitution to provide for reservations in promotions for SC/ST employees, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened an all-party meeting on May 23 to evolve a consensus on the subject.

Coming at a time when it needs to have all its friends by its side, the government will have to use all its diplomatic skills at this meeting in its attempt to please arch political rivals - the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP).

In a day-long debate in the Upper House earlier this month, the BSP pressed for a Constitutional amendment to provide quotas in promotions for SC/ST employees after the Supreme Court quashed the Uttar Pradesh government’s order in this regard. BSP chief and former UP Chief Minister threatened to launch a nation-wide agitation to press this demand and expose the Congress party’s “anti-Dalit agenda.”

However, the BSP demand was promptly followed up by the SP’s assertion that the proposed amendment should also extend to Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

Intervening in the debate, Minorities Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had played it safe by reiterating the ruling combine’s commitment to empowerment of all backward communities and provide them with reservation in government jobs in proportion to their population.

Caught between this competitive politics, the Centre has to find a solution which does not alienate the BSP or the SP as both the parties are extending outside support to the UPA government. Besides, the Congress needs to have both these parties on its side in view of the upcoming Presidential elections as the two regional parties have a substantial vote share in the electoral college.

The Congress is clearly caught in a bind. Its recent experiment on the eve of UP elections, providing a 4.5 per cent reservation for backward minorities from the existing quota for the OBCs, failed to cut much ice with the electorate.

While the Muslims rejected it as an election-eve sop, the OBCs were sore that their quota was being diluted. The Congress will again find itself at the receiving end if it were to ignore the interests of the backward classes.

Competitive politics

* The BSP had pressed for a Constitutional amendment to provide quotas in promotions for SC/ST employees earlier this month

* Mayawati threatened to launch a nation-wide agitation to press this demand

* The SP then asserted that the proposed amendment should also extend to the OBCs

* Salman Khurshid played it safe by reiterating the ruling combine’s commitment to empowerment of all backward communities