Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel is locked in a bitter battle with Governor Anusuiya Uikey over two reservation bills Chhattisgarh Public Service (SC-ST-OBC Reservation) Amendment Bill and Chhattisgarh Educational Institutions (Reservation in admission) Amendment Bill passed unanimously by the assembly. The two bills seek to provide 32% reservation for the Scheduled Tribes, 27% to Other Backward Classes, 13% to Scheduled Castes and 4% to the Economically Weaker Sections.
The governor has withheld assent to the bills and has shot off 10 questions, seeking to know the basis on which the quotas have been fixed. Baghel has accused the BJP of stalling reservation for weaker sections by using the Raj Bhavan. He spoke to Shahid Faridi on the issue. Excerpts:
Your government is locked in a tussle with the governor over the new reservation bill. The governor says she is yet to get answers to the objections raised by her. You claim to have answered all her queries. What is causing the stalemate?
You see, initially I had thought that the governor was raising some genuine queries, which the government needed to answer. So we answered the questions. The governor has been very positive about giving due reservation to the marginalised sections. In fact, she had herself promised to approve the reservation bill without delay. But it has been stuck in the Raj Bhavan even after being passed unanimously by all members, including the MLAs belonging to the BJP. The events of the past few days have left me with no doubt that the BJP is using the Raj Bhavan to stall the reservation bill. It has a problem with our decision to raise the quota for OBC, SCs and STs. I have asked the BJP MLAs to talk to the governor for her assent. They are not doing it. It is clear that the BJP MLAs supported the bill in the assembly only because they did not want to be seen opposing it. They don’t want to press the governor for its approval. They are just making excuses. But in the eyes of the people, the BJP has been exposed as being anti-reservation.
Have you answered all the questions asked by governor?
Yes. We have given all the answers that we could. Under the Constitution, the governor has the power to ask questions. We respect that. And out of this respect, we have supplied her with all the required information. But we are getting a sense that the questions being asked by the Raj Bhavan are only a pretext to withhold the bill. The Constitution allows the governor to either approve,
reject or hold the bill indefinitely. We will see how long it can be withheld.
Does your bill pass the triple test mandated by the Supreme Court?
Our earlier attempt to raise quota was struck down in 2019 by the high court on the ground that we did not meet the criteria. The HC wanted us to give reservation on the basis of quantifiable data. So we set up a commission. The bill we passed in the Assembly was drafted on the basis of data collected by the commission.
But you have breached the 50% ceiling fixed by the Supreme Court through the Indira Sawhney ruling.
Indira Sawhney has been breached by many states. The BJP-ruled Karnataka has 58% reservation even without getting the Act included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. Look at the irony, the BJP has more than 50% reservation in a state ruled by them, but here they talk of Indira Sawhney. Moreover, the Union government itself had breached the 50% ceiling when it gave reservation to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).
So what is the status of reservation in Chhattisgarh at the moment?
The BJP’s double game has left the state’s youth in a limbo.
Job appointments and college admissions are all stuck.
Do you think the Governor will clear the bill?
I have done all I could to get her to pass the bill. The bill is now a property of the state legislature. The Governor has to carry out her Constitutional duty now. She has to respect the will of the legislature and do what is constitutionally right. I hope better sense will prevail.
What is the political fallout of the tug-of-war over the reservation bill?
The political fallout is huge. The BJP is completely exposed. We are having a big rally at Raipur on Tuesday to expose the BJP’s double-speak on reservation. The people of the state are watching every move of the BJP and will teach them a lesson at the right time. The BJP is playing with fire on the reservation issue.
You have stopped short of reverting to the old pension scheme by giving the option of choosing between the old and the new schemes.
Why so?
You see, the government employees of Chhattisgarh have been contributing to their pension scheme. This fund, totaling about Rs 17,000 crore, has been lying with the Central government. We will need to get that money back from the Centre to completely revive the old pension scheme. We will take a decision based on the choice our employees make.