Congress proposes a 50% quota for SC, ST, OBCs, and minorities in party positions

*Paromita Das
As part of its social engineering efforts to regain the trust of weaker sections, Congress plans to provide 50% representation to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, and minorities at all levels of the party organization.

In a shift in stance on quotas within quotas in the women’s reservation bill, the party is expected to demand that, in addition to the reservation for women in Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies, there be proportionate reservation for SC, ST, and OBC women.
Speaking at a media briefing on the deliberations of the panel on social justice and empowerment formed by party chief Sonia Gandhi to lead discussions on this issue at the Congress’ three-day ‘Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir’ here, senior leader and Union minister Salman Khurshid said the panel also recommended the establishment of a social justice advisory counsel to the Congress president.

According to Khurshid, the convener of the panel on social justice and empowerment, an attached department will collect data for social engineering and make it available to Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs) and other party units.
According to him, social justice is a fundamental commitment, but the primary tool for achieving it is social engineering.

K Raju, a panel member and coordinator for the Congress’ SC/OBC/Minority Departments, stated that the party’s constitution currently provides for 20% reservation for SCs, STs, OBCs, and minorities.

“The group discussed and decided that in the short run, we must increase this to 50%.” He proposed a 50% reservation in all committees, beginning with booth committees, block committees, district committees, PCCs, and the CWC.
Some participants believe that we should go beyond 50%, but members felt that we should start with 20% and work our way up to 50%, he said.

According to Raju, the Khurshid-led group has identified that there are many sub-castes within SCs and STs, and the party needs to focus on those sub-castes that have not yet been represented in the organization or the government, and give them justice.

“As a result, attention will be paid in the future to identifying those sub-castes in these communities that have not been adequately represented within the organisation and also in the government,” Raju said.
He also stated that the panel has recommended to the CWC that once every six months, a special session of the working committee, PCCs, and DCCs be held to discuss all issues concerning SCs, STs, OBCs, and minorities, so that the party is aware of their concerns and makes appropriate decisions.

According to Raju, the panel also discussed major policy commitments to demand the government be in power and implement them where the Congress is in power.

“The group has long debated the issue of caste-based censuses of OBCs and other communities. The group has strongly advised the Congress to demand and express its support for caste-based censuses “he stated.
Raju stated that the panel discussed the Women’s Reservation Bill and that it was recommended that the party push for quota within quota.

Raju proposed a proportionate reservation for SC, ST, and OBC women among the women’s reservations. When asked why there was a U-turn in its position, given that when the UPA government passed the women reservation bill in Rajya Sabha, it had resisted quota within quota, Khurshid said, “Sometimes you have to push legislations strategically, we were committed to a quota for women and the problem with the quota within a quota was that we had assumed there would not be easy agreement and consensus on that and the result would be we would lose out on reservation for women at that stage.

“As a result, a deliberate strategic decision was made to obtain the quota first, and then we will consider further segmentation.” Now that we’ve lost a lot of time, and politics has changed significantly since then, we believe it’s time to make it clear where you stand, said Khurshid.

He stated that the party is fully committed to women’s participation, and that women of all backgrounds should be able to participate. “We don’t want anyone to believe that there is a hidden agenda in bringing in women, but you bring in women who are easily elected.” As a result, after careful consideration, we concluded that the time has come to take the bull by the horns and ensure that we get quota within quota all pushed in one go, said Khurshid.

There is no inconsistency; we have moved past the point where we felt strategically that the quota should come first, he added.
In response to another question about the party’s shifting stance on quota within quotas, senior Congress leader and former Union minister Kumari Selja stated, “There was never any objection to this” (quota within quota). There was a coalition government at the time, and it was difficult to bring everyone together.

Noting that the Schedules, Caste Sub-Plan and Tribal Sub-Plan were important policies for the advancement of SCs and STs, Raju stated that the group has recommended central and state legislation on them.

Another important issue that the group has discussed and is in the process of recommending is reservation in the private sector for SC, ST, and OBCs because jobs in the public sector are being reduced, according to Raju.
He stated that policy for reserving seats for OBCs in state legislatures and Parliament was also discussed, and the group is inclined to recommend reserving seats for OBCs in assemblies and Parliament.

The discussions at the ‘Chintan Shivir,’ which began on Friday, will continue on the third day, and the results will be documented in the form of a declaration. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) will meet here on the third and final day of the conclave to discuss a draft of the declaration.

Congress proposesm a 50% quota m SC, ST, OBCs, , minorities in party positions