Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Monday dared the Bharatiya Janata Party to end reservation and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi if he would do it if Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat were to ask him.
Mr. Bhagwat had, in the latest issue of the organisation’s mouthpiece Panchajanya , suggested a “review” of the reservation policy as it was being used to meet “political ends.” He advocated setting up an apolitical committee to find out who needed reservation and for how long.
Responding to Mr. Bhagwat’s suggestion, the RJD chief tweeted thrice on Monday afternoon. “You talk of ending reservations…we will increase them in accordance with the population…scrap them if you have the courage and you’ll know who has how much power,” Mr. Prasad said in his first tweet.
Four minutes later he tweeted once again. “The RSS and the BJP could try their best to bring an environment conducive to ending reservations. But 80% of this country’s Dalits and backward classes will give them a fitting reply.”
Twenty-six minutes later, he was back with his third tweet. “The so-called tea-seller and recently turned backward [Narendra] Modi should tell us if he will end reservations at his master [Mohan] Bhagwat’s bidding.”
Mr. Bhagwat had argued that the reservation policy based on social backwardness was not what the makers of the Constitution had in mind. “Had quotas been implemented as envisaged by the Constitution-makers, questions on this issue would not have arisen,” he said.
Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), an alliance partner of the BJP, said reservation was a settled issue and was mandated by the Constitution. “We’ve nothing more to say,” RSLP general secretary Shivraj Singh said in New Delhi.
Jitan Ram Manjhi, leader of another ally Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), said reservation envisaged in the Constitution was not based on economic status. “Until there is socio-economic equality in our society, it will be an injustice to end reservation,” he said, after filing his nomination papers from Makhdumpur (reserved) seat in Jehanabad.
