SC/ST Act: Madhya Pradesh on high alert as upper caste groups plan protest against reviving 'diluted' law

Several upper caste groups in Madhya Pradesh have brought thousands of youths together to rally against the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act in Gwalior on Tuesday. The groups have alleged that the BJP-led Centre is working to bring back stringent clauses of the Act.

Due to the lobbying of the central government to make amendments to the ‘diluted’ Act, resentment among anti-reservationists has been increasing in Madhya Pradesh’s sensitive Chambal-Gwalior region. The Supreme Court, on 20 March, diluted the stringent provisions for arrests under the Act, to make sure there were no “false implications”. The two-judge bench of Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit had said that there were “instances of abuse” of the Act for various reasons.

The Supreme Court’s decision saw widespread protests from SC/ST organisations in April, resulting in violence and the death of at least eleven people . The Centre was under pressure to overrule the apex court’s verdict during the Monsoon Session of Parliament in July.

Aaj Tak reported that  for the rally on Tuesday, the Kshatriya Mahasabha, Gurgaar Mahasabha, and Parshuram Sena Swabhiman Sammelan organisations are to hold the rally at the Phool Bagh Maidan in Gwalior. Section 144 has been imposed in various parts of the state, and is expected to remain till 6 September.

The authorities are on high alert, fearing counter-protests by SC/ST groups.  News18 reported that  the organisers of the rally, are expecting around 15,000 to 20,000 people at the venue. Gagan Tiwari, youth wing head of Sanadhya Sabha, said, “We have asked the administration to identify anti-social elements which might make attempts to disrupt law and order during our peaceful protest."

According to the report, another organiser Manmohan Sharma claimed that the Centre’s move to reverse the dilution marred the social harmony and brotherhood in the state. Sharma said various organisations, including Karni Sena, Parashuram Sena, Jaat Mahasabha, Pal Sabha, Prajapati Samaj, Vaish Samaj, Kshtriya Mahasabha, Yadav Mahasabha, Gurjar Mahasabha and others, have extended support to the protest.

On Saturday, Rajya Sabha MP Thawar Chand Gehlot, accompanied by senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, faced public anger in Guna as locals surrounded him and raised slogans, according to reports. Similarly, on Sunday, footwear was flung close to Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan while he was addressing a public gathering.

Among the prominent voices calling for overturning of the Supreme Court’s decision, is the Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janashakti Party (LJP). On 28 July, Chirag Paswan, had said that its support to the BJP was issue-based and had sought a law to restore the stringent measures of the Act. Protecting interests of these communities was at the root of the LJP’s tie-up with the BJP in 2014, he had said.

Earlier in July, the BJP had asserted that it would not allow dilution of the SC/ST Act “at any cost” and lambasted Opposition parties for “spreading rumours” that the Narendra Modi government was planning to scrap reservations for backward classes.

The party also sought to highlight the ‘pro-Dalit’ character of the Sangh Parivar, recalling the close association of Hindutva ideologue Dattopant Thengadi with Babasaheb Ambedkar, and the prime minister’s thrust on construction of toilets, thus eradicating manual scavenging carried out by those belonging to the depressed classes.

With inputs from agencies