The stage is set and the Central government is more than willing to accommodate the demands of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes who felt that the Supreme Court order on March 20 diluted the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
An amendment, already approved by the Union Cabinet, will ensure that the modifications sought by the SC order are rendered null and void. Furthermore, it will make the Act watertight, leaving no room for any interpretation by the judiciary. So certain aspects of the Act, which were ambiguous and somewhat open to clarification, have now been made crystal clear.
Now the new Bill will be tabled in Parliament. From the start, ie March 20, the government appeared unsure about how to deal with the SC order, which turned out to be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, despite strong protests from various quarters, the apex court was resolute in its decision to “protect innocents from falling prey to arbitrary arrests under the Act” by “banning immediate arrest of a person accused of insulting or injuring a Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe member”.
The SC stood its ground saying that its judgment didn’t cause any harm or insult to Dalit rights. On the other hand, the government was accused of soft-pedalling an issue that has a direct bearing on the self-respect and well-being of the marginalised sections of society. It soon became a political hot potato with the Opposition criticising the Centre for pussyfooting around a difficult and delicate situation.
Even some NDA coalition partners, LJP, JD(U) and RPI, urged the Centre to take swift and decisive action. There is no denying the fact that the spectre of nationwide protests on August 9 was also weighing heavily on the government’s mind. There was no way, the government could have adopted a different stance.
Since politics is a matter of perception, and lack of action would have definitely sullied the BJP’s image, the saffron party couldn’t have gone to the hustings with such a blemish on its track record. The atrocities against Dalits have gone up by leaps and bounds in recent years.
In 2016 alone, there were as many as 47,338 cases of crime against SCs and STs registered across the country. In 2015, the figure stood at 44,839. What’s striking is the rate of conviction in both these years: ranging between 20 and 25 per cent.
There were visible signs of disenchantment with the current dispensation in April this year when the Dalits’ call for Bharat Bandh opposing the SC judgment turned violent. Those on the fringes felt that the government was not doing its bit to protect the interests of the historically marginalised.
The galvanisation of Dalits and other oppressed castes as a political force has been the biggest challenge for the ruling power. Unlike a few decades ago, it has become impossible to ignore the assertive voices who hold the key to power in certain states.
Elections in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh later this year will be a litmus test for the NDA. All three of them have considerable Dalit and tribal population.
