Protesting the government decision to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to Dhangar community on Friday, a group of ST MLAs jumped from the third floor of Mantralaya and landed on the safety net. Dhangar leader and BJP MLC Gopichand Padalkar who has been demanding the inclusion of Dhangars in OBC into the ST list, spoke to Vallabh Ozarkar and said that the demand does not affect the tribals. He also alleged the role of some senior politicians in the incident of MLAs jumping from the Mantralaya. Excerpts: What are your demands and what is the background of Dhangar reservation? Our demand is that the state government should issue a Government Resolution (GR) instructing all district collectors and tehsildars in the state that Dhangad should be considered as Dhangar and all Dhangar should be given a status of Schedule Tribe. So are you talking to the government in this regard? I have met Chief Minister Eknath Shinde thrice and explained the whole scenario. I also met Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. I will be meeting them again in the upcoming week. Our demand is that the government should give instructions to the ST caste validation committee chief, ST public representatives and other officials to give certificates to those tribals who have not got it yet. And, give ST certificates to Dhangars as well. Are there any government records that say that Dhangars are Schedule Tribes? The Dhangars are already listed in the ST list at number 36. Why do you think that ST leaders are opposing? They should understand that ST reservation is based on population. It doesn’t matter if it is increasing or not. Dhangars are not the only community, there are 117 sub-castes (in ST) who have not got the ST caste certificates. Thirty-five communities are now going to give me a memorandum that they have not got the caste certificates. Many tribal leaders are opposing your demand stating that if Dhangars are included in the STs then it would be an injustice to the tribals. How do you respond to it? Our reservation demand does not affect the tribals. The government should actually check the irregularities in tribal department. There are some particular communities of tribals who have got all the reservations but there are lakhs of other tribes who have not got the ST caste certificate yet and they have been deprived of the reservation. How do you see the protest where politicians, including Deputy Speaker and NCP leader Narhari Zirwal, jumped from the third floor of Mantralaya and landed on the safety nets? Zirwal is holding the post of deputy speaker. He has the authority to call for a meeting of government officials and even ministers. He can even summon the CM. But he did this. This is all done by (Sharad) Pawar. It was NCP SP MLA who started making an issue of it first. You opposed the Maratha community’s demand of giving them OBC status, saying it would be injustice to OBC. Currently Dhangars are in OBC and you are asking ST status for them. ST reservation is based on population. We are making the demands as per the law. We are clearly saying that you make three categories in the ST — A, B and C. In ST we are demanding that you give us a separate category so that we won’t intrude into anyone's quota.
