Madhya Pradesh High Court has questioned the reservation benefit enjoyed by sub-tribes of Manjhi tribe in the state, setting off a political storm. The sub-groups of the community were considered a ST and were extended all the benefits, first by the Congress and later by the BJP. The state has more than 20 lakh members belonging to the tribe and its sub-groups. Both the parties are worried about the consequences. “We fail to appreciate how the state government can withhold action against those who are not Manjhis but who claim to be a sub-tribe or group of Manjhi tribe and continue to avail the privileges and benefits available to Manjhi tribe as members of Scheduled Tribe,” the court said while quashing two government circulars issued in 1998. The circulars had been issued to stop action, including prosecution, against Kewats, Dhimars, Bhois, Kahars and Nishads among other sub-groups who were enjoying benefits on the basis of caste certificates that identified them as Manjhis. So rattled was former CM Digvijay Singh by the court order that he said if at all action had to be initiated against the sub-tribes, the BJP government should begin with its own fisheries minister Moti Kashyap.
