Telangana: Will SC Verdict On Sub Categorisation Help BJP Which Had Gone All Out To Woo The Madigas?

The Supreme Court recently allowed sub-categorisation and creamy layer distinction amongst Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) for reservation.

While there has been opposition to it from SC leaders like Mayawati, Chirag Paswan and Chandrasekhar Azad, the judgement has been welcomed by political parties in Telangana.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy said that the Congress government in Telangana would be the first to implement it. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too had supported the demand for sub-categorisation and actively courted the Madiga community which had been at the forefront of demanding the same.

Manda Krishna Madiga, the leader of the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS), famously shared the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the assembly elections in 2023.

Leaders from the Madiga community, a numerically large SC community, have alleged that the numerically smaller and relatively more advanced Mala community had cornered most of the benefits provided by reservation.

Now, after the verdict, the question on people’s minds is how would it impact Telangana politics.

The political commentators Swarajya spoke to agree that it is unlikely to significantly benefit the BJP electorally. 

“As it is a court verdict, all Madigas would not see it as something brought about by the BJP. Even in the Assembly elections, despite the outreach by PM Modi, it is not as if the community voted for the BJP en masse.

“In Lok Sabha elections, some of the Madiga votes did come their way because of unhappiness with how Congress distributed tickets, but the next election is a long way away now,” one of them stated.

Of the three reserved seats, the Congress gave one to Kadiyam Kavya, who belongs to the Byndla community, a Madiga sub-caste. However, many do not consider her to be eligible as she has married a Muslim.

The other two were given to the Mala community, with one going to Mallu Ravi, the brother of the deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka.

When asked if the BJP could now expect more votes from his community, Krishna Madiga told Swarajya that while the people in his community may not be supporting the party at present, he would work amongst them to garner votes for PM Modi. 

“It is my duty to convince them to support the BJP. We have succeeded after a decades-long struggle. PM Modi has brought us something that will take care of our future generations for a long time to come. We are extremely happy,” he added.

“Don’t you think a sizeable chunk of votes could go to the Congress, given that Revanth Reddy has promised to implement sub-categorisation?” I asked.

“Revanth Reddy is doing it out of compulsion. The Congress, which did not give a single ticket to our community during the Lok Sabha elections is now trying to make amends.”

A senior BJP MP, at whose residence this author met Krishna Madiga, refused to comment on the issue.

While he did not give a reason, a conversation with a leader from the National SC Reservation Parirakshana Samithi, gave away the possible cause — the judgement had affected the party’s relations with other SC communities, especially the Malas.

Discontent with BJP and Congress

Speaking with Swarajya, the Pariraskshana Samithi leader said, “While there is an expectation that more of the Madiga vote could come the BJP’s way, it is unlikely because, in Telangana, 50-60 per cent of the population in the Madiga community are converted Christians. Even Krishna Madiga is alleged to be a converted Christian. Only Hindutva-minded BJP supporters in the community would vote for the party.

“For example, in the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly by-poll, if the Madiga vote had solidly supported the BJP, Dr Vamsha Tilak — son of prominent movement figure T N Sadalakshmi — might have won instead of losing to the BRS

"If the community's support was total, the BJP should have won at least one of the 19 seats reserved for SCs.

"Despite the BJP's support for sub-categorisation displeasing many Malas, educated Malas initially voted for the party. However, following the judgement, even these voters are now turning against the BJP.

“Does this suggest they will further consolidate their support behind the Congress?

"While they may continue to vote for the Congress as they have done in the past, they are unhappy with Revanth Reddy's announcement."

Regarding the narrative of the Malas having cornered most of the benefits at the cost of other SC communities, he said, “Malas are in general more focused on education, jobs and career. So, they get more jobs. This was the situation in united Andhra Pradesh.

“But after the bifurcation of the state, the Madiga community too has got a lot of benefits, in jobs, schemes etc. A look at the data of beneficiaries of loans from the state’s SC corporation and the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) government’s Dalit Bandhu scheme would show that out of every 100 beneficiaries, around 60-70 would be Madigas," the leader added.

Thus, despite the Madiga community and the MRPS achieving a victory in their sub-categorisation struggle with BJP support, it is unlikely to yield significant electoral gains for the party.

It also remains to be seen how various castes will react when the specifics of the reservation allocation for different groups within the SCs (there are 57 of them) are revealed.

Until then, the BJP is likely to adopt a cautious stance on the issue to avoid alienating other SC communities, particularly the Malas.