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Two Union ministers from Bihar publicly disagreed on Saturday over how Scheduled Caste reservation should work. Chirag Paswan, who leads the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), asked Jitan Ram Manjhi of Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) to resign. He also named Manjhi’s son, Bihar minister Santosh Kumar Suman.
The trigger was HAM’s call for a review of reservation so that benefits reach the most deprived Dalit groups. Both parties sit in the NDA at the Centre and in Bihar. The row has grown while anti-quota protests continue at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, India Today reported.
Paswan told reporters that those who want a creamy layer inside SC reservation should first give up the benefits they already hold.
“Those asking why there should not be a creamy layer should first give up the benefits of reservation. If Jitan Ram Manjhi believes in the creamy layer concept, he should first resign. His son should resign too,” he said, according to India Today.
What is HAM actually demanding?
Suman said the party is not seeking an end to reservation. It wants the system made “more just” and “effective”. HAM argues that Dalit quota gains have concentrated among a few communities, including Paswans and Ravidas, while groups such as the Mushahars remain under-represented.
Manjhi belongs to the Mushahar community. Suman has said that not a single person from that community has become an IAS officer.
Suman has also backed sub-quotas for SCs and STs inside the existing reservation framework, and pointed to Punjab and Haryana-style “quota within quota” models, according to Dainik Bhaskar and Jansatta.
Manjhi, speaking in Gaya, said Paswan had not understood Suman’s point. He said reservation benefits must reach those who have been left out for a long time and that HAM would not step back from a fairer share of those benefits, Bhaskar reported.
Suman later said he was ready to resign if Paswan did the same first. “My younger brother’s party is larger. Let him start. We are also ready to resign with him,” he said, according to ETV Bharat.
Does the law already allow what HAM wants?
Partly. In August 2024 a seven-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, in State of Punjab v Davinder Singh, held by 6-1 that states may sub-classify Scheduled Castes so that more backward groups inside the list get a larger share. The court overruled the 2004 E.V. Chinnaiah ruling.
Four of the seven judges also said the creamy layer idea should be considered for SCs and STs. That part was not the main question before the bench and is treated by many lawyers as obiter.
A later petition asked the court to exclude socially and economically advanced SC and ST families from quota benefits. The Centre, in an affidavit, said the creamy layer cannot be extended to SCs and STs. It argued that SC disadvantage is tied to untouchability and ST status to isolation and distinct culture, unlike the mixed social-educational-economic test used for OBCs. The 1992 Indra Sawhney judgment had confined the creamy layer to OBCs, the government told the court, the Indian Express reported.
Paswan’s line tracks that Centre position. He said the Constitution does not fix SC reservation on economic grounds.
“Otherwise, the way society will be divided, the fight for social justice will lose its meaning. Dalits would continue to face discrimination,” he said. “If they still want a creamy layer based on economic criteria, then he (Manjhi) should be the first to step aside.”
Is this an NDA split or a caste contest inside the alliance?
It is both. LJP (Ram Vilas) and HAM (S) are allies of the BJP. They represent different Dalit constituencies in Bihar. Paswan’s party has long opposed sub-quotas. HAM’s base is among the most backward SC groups.
No NDA convenor or BJP spokesperson had, by Saturday evening, issued a public line to close the argument. Congress MP Akhilesh Prasad Singh said reservation should follow the Constitution, IANS reported.
