After the bill becomes an Act, Congress wants to organise a major public meeting in Gajwel to explain how quickly it responded to the Supreme Court judgement on 1 August 2024 by ensuring the sub-categorisation of the SCs. The Congress is planning to invite Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge for the event.
Published Feb 19, 2025 | 12:22 PM ⚊ Updated Feb 19, 2025 | 12:22 PM
Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy (centre) at a Cabinet subcommittee meeting. (Supplied)
Synopsis: The Telangana government wants to pass the SC sub-categorisation bill in the state Assembly and make it an Act as soon as possible. Sources said it would become an Act by the first week of March, incorporating the changes recommended by Manda Krishna Madiga to the Shameem Akhtar Commission’s report.
The Telangana government is contemplating making changes to the Shameem Akhtar Commission’s report on the sub-categorisation of Schedule Caste (SC) communities, which recommended the creation of three sub-groups for the extension of reservations.
The state government is understood to have made the decision after Manda Krishna Madiga, the founder president of the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS), requested four groups instead of three.
To facilitate the drafting of the bill after the incorporation of suggestions, mainly from Manda Krishna Madiga and others, the state government reportedly extended the term of the Shameem Akhtar Commission till 10 March.
The state government decided to bring out a bill and, after a thorough discussion in the Assembly, make it an Act. It is also intended to give political mileage to the Congress-led government in the state.
Congress wants to derive maximum political advantage from the sub-categorisation. It is aware that the BJP is keen on a larger share in the pie of the goodwill generated among the Madigas with the sub-categorisation of SCs. Madigas are numerically stronger than Malas in Telangana. According to the 2011 census, their population was 32.33 lakh, while that of Malas was 15.27 lakh.
After the bill becomes an Act, Congress wants to organise a major public meeting in Gajwel to explain how quickly it responded to the Supreme Court judgement on 1 August 2024 by ensuring the sub-categorisation of the SCs. The Congress is planning to invite Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge for the event.
This way, the Congress wants to checkmate the BJP, which has been supporting Manda Krishna Madiga and has even facilitated a quick resolution of the issue in the Supreme Court. Ahead of the Assembly elections in Telangana in 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a promise to take steps to facilitate sub-categorisation at a public meeting organised by Manda Krishna Madiga.
The Union government filed an affidavit in February 2024 that sub-categorisation would ensure better implementation of the reservations for the SCs and Scheduled Tribes (STs), and on 1 August, the apex court delivered its judgment in favour of sub-categorisation.
In its ruling, the apex court said that states can sub-classify SCs to provide reservations for deserving backward groups. The court held that sub-classification is not only constitutional but also does not tamper with equality under Article 14 of the Constitution.
In fact, after the Shameem Akhtar Commission’s report was tabled in the state Assembly on 4 February 2025, Manda Krishna Madiga, who spent his lifetime fighting for sub-categorisation of the Madigas, pointed out how Malas gained an upper hand in the sub-categorisation too and how they cornered benefits that should legitimately go to Madigas.
The Revanth Reddy government, which pats itself on the back claiming that it was the first to implement the Supreme Court judgement in favour of sub-categorisation in the case of State of Punjab vs Davinder Singh, appears keen on having the full credit. On 11 October 2024, the state government appointed retired high court judge Shameem Akhtar as the chairman of the commission for sub-categorisation of SCs.
After the extension of the term of the Shameem Akhtar Commission, Krishna Madiga, addressing a Mala-Dasara caste meeting, said that he was not per se against Malas but was opposing those who were against sub-categorisation of SCs.
He said that the Shameem Akhtar Commission report had some flaws, which he said he had pointed out to the government. “If the report is implemented as it is, it might do injustice to some Madiga castes,” he said advocating the creation of sub-groups of the SCs.
He wanted the most backwards among the Madigas in Group A, other Madigas in Group B, some castes among the Malas in Group C, and the remaining Malas in Group D.
Another reason that the state government wants to pass the bill in the Assembly is that it is keen on issuing notifications for jobs after sub-categorisation becomes an Act.
The state is understood to have written to the Election Commission (EC) for exemption from the model code of conduct in force for the MLC elections to conduct a Cabinet meeting to approve the amendments to the sub-categorisation report and then table it in the Assembly in the first week of March in the form of a bill.
It is quite possible that it might become an Act in March itself, and this way, the government wants to implement the new reservation system for jobs for which notifications would follow.
According to sources in the Congress, the Revanth Reddy government is keen that the entire labour that has gone into making the report on sub-categorisation should not go to waste by not accommodating the just demands of Manda Krishna Madiga.
Revanth Reddy understands the inherent political danger of riding roughshod over Manda Krishna Madiga, as he has the backing of the BJP, and together they can tilt the political scales in favour of the saffron party.
In a disconcerting symptom for the Congress, the BJP has been growing green shoots in Telangana and is now raring to challenge it in the next Assembly elections, the source said.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
