Lashing out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance for introducing 10 per cent reservation for the poor among the general category, ruling party’s rebel and MP from Bahraich, Savitribai Phule, said the Narendra Modi government had gone against the spirit of the Constitution by extending quota to those who were already well-represented in the social ladder.
Addressing the media at the VVIP Guest House here on Friday, Phule said extending reservations to the upper castes on financial basis was part of a conspiracy so that reservations for Dalits and backward classes could also be given on financial grounds in the future.
Furthering her argument, Phule said that providing reservation to the upper castes was against the basic spirit of the Constitution. “The reservation should be extended on the basis of educational, social, backward criteria,” she said.
In a scathing attack on the Modi government, Phule said that had the government really wished to do justice, it would have made arrangements for reservation in the private sector as well because most government departments were now being given to private players.
“The government should immediately announce reservation for poor among upper caste, backward classes and Scheduled Castes in the private sector,” she said.
The MP from Bahraich said that many parliamentarians had voted against the quota bill in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha but the Modi government was unnecessarily stressing on extending the 10 per cent reservation to the upper castes.
She also said that the BJP was preparing a political ‘khichidi’ (plan) in Delhi and other places which was an insult to the backward classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Appealing to like-minded organisations working for the betterment of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minorities, Phule said that it was now time that they should come together and put a brave face against the ‘Manuvadis.’