File photo of Gomantak Kshatriya Maratha Samaj handing over memorandum to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant expressing their reservations on ST reservations.
MARGAO
The ruling BJP has a challenging task ahead as it seeks to navigate concerns over political reservations raised by representatives of certain caste groups that have traditionally formed a significant part of the party’s support base.
While these groups have not opposed political reservations per se, they have urged the government to proceed cautiously to ensure that no injustice is caused to other communities.
The All Goa Kshatriya Maratha Samaj was among the first organisations to raise concerns, not so much over political reservations for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) community, but over the government’s move to implement them on the basis of the 2011 population census.
The Samaj has already submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant—who is also a prominent leader of the Gomantak Kshatriya Maratha Samaj—urging the government to defer implementation of political reservations for the ST community until the completion of the ongoing population census.
Samaj president Suhas Faldesai argued that any delimitation or reservation of constituencies should be based on the latest authenticated census data, as mandated under the Delimitation Act.
“As per expert opinion, any delimitation or reservation of constituencies must be based on the latest authenticated census data under the Delimitation Act. The government is proposing political reservation based on the 2011 census, which is against constitutional norms,” Faldesai said.
He further noted that the government has already initiated the population census process and questioned the urgency behind implementing political reservations at this stage.
“Why the hurry in implementing political reservation in Goa? Implementing ST reservation on out dated and provisional data will cause grave injustice to all constituents of Goa. Therefore, we demand that the implementation be kept in abeyance until the census and subsequent delimitation exercise are completed,” he added.
