Congress cites RSS ideologue’s Article 15(4) dissent note amid caste census credit war

Amid the credit war over caste census between the Congress and BJP, MP Jairam Ramesh on Monday said RSS ideologue Syama Prasad Mukherjee had submitted a dissent note against Article 15(4) — the article brought in the Constitution “making special provisions for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.”

In a parliamentary context, a dissent note is a formal statement expressing disagreement with the majority opinion within a committee report. When a committee report is drafted and presented to the Parliament, members who disagree with the majority’s recommendations may submit a dissent note. This note outlines their disagreement and the reasons for it, providing an alternative perspective for the Parliament to consider.

Congress leader taking to the social media announced, “Article 15(4) was introduced into the Constitution of India through the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951 which came into effect from June 18, 1951. This Article gives the State the Constitutional powers for ‘making special provisions for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes’.”

Article 15(4) had become necessary since on April 9, 1951, the Supreme Court had struck down reservations in the famous State of Madras vs Smt Champakam Dorairajan case, the Congress leader said.

He added the first amendment had also introduced the ninth schedule to protect land reform laws from judicial review. “This had become necessary since the courts were striking down zamindari abolition laws. All this history is now forgotten. The Select Committee on the Bill had been chaired by none other than the-then PM himself and had included C Rajagopalachari and Dr Ambedkar. It also had Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee as a member but he submitted a dissent note,” he added.