Apex court verdict may help BJP to further consolidate Madiga base in Telangana

Hyderabad: Thursday's Supreme Court verdict in favour of the SC and ST categorisation can be seen as a major boost to the BJP's prospects in Telangana, India's youngest state, where the saffron party has been making steady in roads.

In the just-concluded general elections, the BJP had won eight of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana. Off late, the BJP has been wooing Madigas, a sub-caste among SCs which is also numerically strong in Telangana.

Madigas have been fighting for SC sub categorization since the middle of the 1990s, when Andhra Pradesh was united. During last year's assembly elections and this year's Lok Sabha polls, Madigas demonstrated a significant shift towards the BJP in Telangana, marking a first for the state. The Thursday verdict will only help BJP further consolidate its Madiga base.

Until now, Madigas has supported either Congress or BRS. Madigas, along with more than 50 subgroups of SCs, have been fighting for the categorisation, claiming that Malas, another dominant subcaste, are enjoying the majority of the benefits of the SC reservation.

As per the 2011 decadal census, Telangana's SC population stands at 54,32,680, with Madigas comprising 32,33,642, and Malas, at 15,27,143. The then Telangana government conducted an integrated household survey in 2014, estimating the state's SC population at 63,60,158, representing approximately 18 percent of the state's total population.

Minutes after the Supreme Court verdict, Manda Krishna Madiga, the leader of the Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS) who is seen as the champion of the SC categorisation cause, openly expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and other BJP leaders in an emotional tone.

However, he did not openly acknowledge the Congress. Krishna Madiga also acknowledged Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu's role. Naidu's TDP is an important ally of the BJP-led NDA at the Centre. It was during Naidu's second tenure as united Andhra Pradesh chief minister that SC Categorisation was first brought in, and since then, the issue has been caught in the legal tangle.

Interestingly, Krishna Madiga had extensively toured both the Telugu states in support of the BJP and TDP in the general elections and for the BJP in the last-year assembly polls in Telangana.

Last year, during the assembly polls in Telangana, prime minister Narendra Modi not only announced a committee that would look into Madigas demand but also his visible bonhomie on the stage during a public meeting with Manda Krishna Madiga had caught the attention of Madigas in Telangana. Krishna Madiga burst into tears as he shared the dais with Modi. The prime minister consoled him. Krishna Madiga has since toured the entire Telangana in support of the BJP.

In Telugu states, there has been a traditional rivalry between the Malas and Madigas, two dominant subgroups among Scs. Since the middle of the 1990s, the Madigas have been fighting for SC categorization, hoping that this would help them receive more quotas due to their higher numbers than Malas in the Telangana region. Since the last assembly polls, the BJP has been strategically courting Madigas. In the Lok Sabha elections for the three SC reserved segments, the BJP allocated two tickets to Madigas and one to Mala.

Madigas led by Manda Krishna Madiga under MRPS have been agitating for SC categorisation since the 1990s. The KCR government, too, passed a unanimous resolution in the state assembly for SC categorization at least twice in the last few years.

Congress government to follow SC verdict

Congress, on the other hand, was quick to take credit for the Supreme Court's ruling on Thursday. During the ongoing budget sessions in the state assembly, chief minister A Revanth Reddy said that as soon as his government was formed in December, special advocates had been hired to argue in favour of SC categorization by the Supreme Court.

“The previous BRS government suspended Congress MLA Sampath Kumar from the house for moving an adjournment motion on SC categorization in the Assembly. Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka and Damodara Raja Narasimha sent the Advocate General to the Supreme Court on December 23, 2023. I made arguments with legal experts on SC categorization in the Supreme Court. The efforts made by the Telangana government paid off. The state government will take a decision on the categorization of SCs into ABCD groups in accordance with the Supreme Court verdict. The government will also take appropriate measures to implement reservations for Madiga and Mala sub-castes in the job notifications issued recently. The government will promulgate ordinances, if necessary, in this direction,” said Revanth Reddy on the floor of the House.