Will you remove 50% cap on reservation: Congress asks PM
New Delhi: The Congress alleged on Friday that removing reservation has long been a “clear goal” of the BJP-RSS and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi whether he will remove the 50-per cent cap on the quota for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed that the “indecent language” being used by the prime minister shows that he is “rattled and afraid”.
“We have a direct question for the prime minister…. The country wants to know that will you remove the 50-per cent cap on the reservation for Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs that has been put by the Supreme Court since the last 32 years? In Babasahab Ambedkar’s Constitution, the ninth schedule has provisions for Tamil Nadu where there is 69 per cent reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs,” Ramesh said in a video statement on X.
The Congress will pass a constitutional amendment to raise the 50-per cent cap on reservation in jobs and education for the SCs, STs and OBCs, he added.
In another post on the microblogging platform, Ramesh alleged that removing reservation has long been a “clear goal” of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological mentor, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
He also shared videos of BJP leaders purportedly talking about the need for changes in the Constitution.
The Congress has been alleging that the BJP is talking about “400 paar” (winning more than 400 seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls) to secure the right to amend the Constitution as the saffron party and the RSS are “against secularism and social justice”.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has urged all party candidates in the parliamentary polls to carry a copy of the Constitution with them when they go to file their nominations or to attend public meetings and outreach programmes, and tell people that as long as the opposition party is there, let alone the BJP, no power in the world can “snatch away the Constitution”.
