Group of people take out protest rally against SC's recent judgement on reservation in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur

The Reservation Bachao Sangharsh Samiti announced a day-long Bharat Bandh on August 21 to protest against the Supreme Court's judgement on the reservation.

On the call of Bharat Bandh, several organisations in Jabalpur also called for the bandh from traders and took out a rally of about eight km to mark their protest.

President of Adivasi Bahujan Adhikar Kalyan Sangh, Devesh Chaudhary told ANI, "On August 1, the Supreme Court gave a judgement in which it was said that there should be sub-classification in SC-ST reservation. It is against the basic concept of the Indian Constitution and a violation of Article 341 and 342 of the Constitution. These articles give the right to the President who can sub-classify and divide these castes."

These rights are not with the states but the Supreme Court gave the right to the states. Reservation is not a Garibi Hatao or poverty eradication program. There should not be any kind of tampering with the reservation, therefore they were protesting, he said.

"We request the Central government to call an emergency parliament session and add this reservation to the ninth Schedule of the Indian Constitution so that it cannot be judicially reviewed in the future and the creamy layer can be abolished. This is our demand and for this we have taken out this rally today under the call of Bharat Bandh," Chaudhary added.

Besides, Bhim Army workers staged a protest in Indore and appealed to people to observe Bandh in the district. They reached the District Collector's office and submitted a memorandum addressed to the President of India.

Former state president of Bhim Army Akash Rahul said, "Bharat Bandh was called today in protest of the Supreme Court's judgement on sub-classification within the reservation of SC-ST. It should be withdrawn."

In Gwalior also, hundreds of workers of Bahujan Samaj Party and Dalit organisations took out a rally from Jhalkari Bai Park to Ambedkar Park and submitted a memorandum to the district administration.

The effect of Bharat bandh was also seen in Ujjain as well. Various organisations took out a rally in the city amid the ongoing protest against the Apex court's recent Judgement related to SC-ST reservation. The police personnel were deployed on the roads for security purposes.

The 'Reservation Bachao Sangharsh Samiti' are observing a day-long Bharat Bandh today to protest against the Supreme Court ruling that permits sub-classification within reservation categories for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The apex in a landmark ruling on August 1, ruled that states have the power to sub-classify SCs and STs and said that the authority concerned, while deciding if the class is adequately represented, must calculate adequacy based on effective and not quantitative representation. (ANI)