Shivraj Chouhan’s election dilemma over amended SC/ST Act

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is in a cleft stick over the amended Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The state’s two dominant groups – the upper caste and SC and ST – have opposite stands on the amendment. Chouhan has appeared to appease both.

Upper caste groups have protested against the amendment to overturn a March 2018 Supreme Court judgment that made an inquiry mandatory before booking any person under the law. The SC had called “arbitrary” the law that provided for automatic registration of a case once a complaint was lodged.

Posters put up at many places said upper caste will vote against the BJP if the amendment was not withdrawn. “We will continue our protest till the government withdraws the amendment,” said Kedar Singh Tomar, president of Samanya Pichchda Alpsankhyak Adhikari Avam Karamchari Sangh (SAPAKS), the body representing upper castes.

The protests have unnerved the BJP, which is keen to retain its voter traditional base ahead of the assembly elections. This prompted Chouhan’s announcement last week that no one will be arrested without proper investigation under the amended law. There was no clarification from the government on how the announcement that contradicts the law will be implemented.

The announcement has brought more trouble. SC and ST groups have threatened to disrupt Chouhan’s Ashirward Yatra being undertaken to galvanise support ahead of the elections. They have questioned how his verbal diktat can overrule the law and can be implemented without any explicit order. “We will hold protests at the CM’s yatra and ask him how a verbal order can derail a law,” said Heeralal Trivedi, who heads an organisation of backward classes and minorities, at a protest rally in Bhopal.

The backward communities see it as another move to appease the upper caste at their cost. It can ruin Chouhan’s efforts to woo them with a slew of sops like subsidised power, free school education and housing.

The SC and ST account for 38% of the state’s population while the upper castes are about 12%. The upper castes have been the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s backbone since its formation in the 1980s. The SC and ST have gravitated towards the BJP over the last 15 years that the BJP has been in power in Madhya Pradesh.

An official said the police have got the message that nobody should be booked without “detailed” investigation. “We will handle the situation when it comes,” the official responded when asked how they will deal with court cases that the instruction could lead to.

Government spokesman Narottam Mishra said they will ensure that no “injustice” is done. He refused to comment on whether government will issue any instructions in this regard.

Madhya Pradesh bar council chairman Shivendra Upadhyay said the state has executive powers to say that an inquiry should be conducted before any arrest. “The announcement without circular has no meaning,” he said.

Meanwhile, Congress media in-charge Shobha Oza, said, “The chief minister’s arbitrary decision clearly shows that the BJP does not care for constitutional rights of the poor and backward. We want to know what is the legal validity of his (Chouhan)’s announcement and how can he overturn a central law without bringing an amendment in the state assembly.”

First Published: Sep 25, 2018 02:58 IST