Key Points
New Delhi: Taking a stance contrary to that of the BJP-led central government, senior party leader Kirodi Lal Meena has voiced support for the Supreme Courts call to identify the creamy layer among Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) and exclude them from the reservation fold...
Earlier this year, he left the BJP red-faced with his stand on the partys Lok Sabha losses as well as alleged corruption in Rajasthan...
In contrast to Meenas opinion, the Modi government has aired the view that the creamy layer concept cannot be applied to deny benefits of quota in promotions to government employees of SC/ST communities as the stigma of caste and backwardness is still attached to them...
However, a senior state BJP leader told ThePrint that Meena is the most senior member of the cabinet and he was expecting the top job as CM but the BJP leadership gave the post to first-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma to bring a generational shift...
Following the Supreme Court judgment of 1 Augustwhich affirmed the jurisdiction of states to sub-classify SC/STs to grant them a separate quota inside the reserved category and in which the judges suggested that the creamy layer should be identified and taken out of the fold of reservation policythe Union Cabinet on 9 August asserted that the principle of creamy layer did not apply to reservations for SCs and STs...
