Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday said the demand to implement reservation on economic grounds against the reservations provided to the SC, ST and OBC communities in the Constitution is not appropriate or in the interest of the nation.
Therefore, it would be more appropriate for people to demonstrate true patriotism, the BSP chief said. However, if the people of the country do not receive the proper benefits due to the prevalent corruption and other issues, this is a direct fault of the governmental system, she claimed. The government should not provide any shelter or protection to anti-reservation elements. This would be in the broader interest of the nation and the people, she demanded. As far as providing reservation on economic grounds is concerned, the central and state governments spend considerable government funds every year on not just one but numerous programmes for poverty eradication. In addition, the new system of reservation on economic grounds is also in place in the country, but even its proper benefits are not reaching the poor families of the upper-caste society.
Regarding the constitutional provision of reservation made for the people of the SC, ST, and OBC communities who have been victims of the inhumanity of casteism for centuries in the country, Bhim Rao Ambedkar had said that “abandoning casteism is the greatest patriotism”. Rather, there is more deception in it, Mayawati said. Lashing out at the Congress, the BSP chief said, “On the same day when a dharna was organised at Janta Mantar, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi sat on a dharna for several hours outside the Parliament police station to get an FIR registered in the case of a victim, to which the party has no objection. “Near the place at Jantar Mantar, a dharna-protest was also underway to end the reservation given to Dalits and the exploited on the basis of caste, yet neither he (Rahul Gandhi) nor any other Congress leader went there to reason with the protestors, which clearly reveals their still anti-reservation mindset towards the SC/ ST/ OBC sections,” she claimed.
