New Delhi: In the light of the Supreme Court verdict on application of “creamy layer” for SC/STs, social justice expert PS Krishnan pointed how deep-seated caste prejudices continue to simmer under the veneer of civility.

To prove his point, he highlighted how Dr Sampoornanand’s statue was purified and washed with gangajal after Jagjivan Ram, a Dalit, unveiled it.

He wrote to Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot highlighting the problems and prejudices faced by the scheduled caste people.

“This relates to the unveiling of Dr Sampoornanand’s statue, who was the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, by Jagjivan Ram, who was an SC individual, to occupy the most powerful position, more powerful than that occupied by any other SC individual till now. He was a Union Minister from the interim government stage onwards for many decades and was deputy Prime Minister in the government headed by Morarji Desai.”

He added, “After Ram left, in spite of his eminence, Dr Sampoornand’s statue was washed with Ganga Jal. I know of other instances of SC individuals who have risen to high positions, but whom the caste society has not released from the stigma of untouchability.”

The Supreme Court in September struck down the condition of collecting quantifiable data which, Krishnan said, was “hampering implementation of reservation in promotion for SCs and STs”.

The September verdict was in relation to the reconsideration of the M Magaraj vs Union of India case.

Kirshnan says there were other issues in the Nagaraj verdict which he believes will continue to “create difficulties in smoothly and rapidly fulfilling the Constitutional objective of securing equality, in this case adequate representation for SCs and STs in the promotional posts”.

He emphasized in the letter, “The term creamy layer is misleading.”

He recommended that the correct term used in the Mandal case judgment is Socially Advanced Persons/Sections (SAP/S) of castes identified as Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEdBCs).

The Social justice expert added that the criterion for “identification and specification of SCs was untouchability, which is far more debilitating than social backwardness and has been historically continuous to this day.” In other words, Krishnan emphasized that “Schedule of SCs is a list of castes which have been and are the victims of untouchability.”