Reservation is a Constitutional right and nobody can abolish it, BJP ally and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan asserted on Sunday, apparently targeting the RSS over controversial comments by its publicity chief on quotas in Government jobs and educational institutions.
“Reservation is a Constitutional right and nobody can abolish it. Reservation (for SC/ST) was implemented in the country under the Pune pact between Baba Sahib Ambedkar and Rashtrapita Mahatma Gandhi. This is not a charity granted by someone and it cannot be abolished,” Paswan, the most prominent Dalit face in the Narendra Modi Government, said in a statement.
He said his party lJP will oppose “tooth and nail” any attempt to alter or change the existing quota system “from Parliament to streets”.
Paswan also wondered why RSS leaders made such comments close to elections, saying it was natural for people to get confused by the kind of comments the Sangh spokesperson and its all-India publicity chief Manmohan Vaidya made about reservation recently.