The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
Serious Concern over SC Judgment Denying Reservation Benefits to Backward Caste Converts
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses serious concern over the Supreme Court judgment holding that a person converting from Hinduism to another religion cannot automatically claim backward class reservation benefits on the basis of their pre-conversion caste status.
This judgment, viewed alongside the earlier Supreme Court ruling denying Scheduled Caste reservation benefits to converts to other religions, constitutes a serious setback to the ideals of equality and social justice enshrined in the Constitution.
Social justice cannot be determined by religious identity. It must be based on the realities of historical oppression, caste discrimination and inequalities in access to education, employment and economic opportunities. Religious conversion does not automatically eliminate caste-based discrimination or the social and economic disadvantages associated with it. Denying reservation benefits solely on the grounds of religious conversion, despite the persistence of caste oppression across religious boundaries, undermines the constitutional principles of equality and social justice. Those who convert to other religions must not be deprived of the affirmative action benefits available to them before conversion.
The CPI(M) demands that the Central Government take immediate steps to overcome the adverse implications of these judgments through appropriate constitutional amendments, ensuring reservation benefits for Dalit and backward class converts irrespective of their religious affiliation.
The CPI(M) also demands appropriate constitutional measures to remove the judicially imposed 50 per cent ceiling on reservations, so that the extension of these benefits does not come at the expense of the existing reservation entitlements of Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes.