New Delhi, Aug 22 (IANS) Day after an anti-reservation demonstration at the national capital’s Jantar Mantar, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale and Samajwadi Party (SP) Chief Akhilesh Yadav asserted that reservation is a right allowed by the Constitution and that “no one can abolish it”.
Speaking to reporters in Bihar’s Patna, Athawale said: “I believe that no one has the right to abolish reservation. It is a Constitutional right.”
He emphasised that BR Ambedkar made efforts to introduce reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Constitution, while reservations for OBCs were provided during the tenure of former Prime Minister late V.P. Singh’s government.
“After that, the Narendra Modi government also provided 10 per cent reservation to the economically weaker sections. Today, various communities receive reservation. Therefore, no one has the right to abolish it. Those who demand its abolition are acting against national interests. Action should be taken against them,” the Union Minister said.
Echoing similar view, SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav said: “Reservation was, is and will remain.”
In a post on social media platform X, Yadav alleged a conspiracy is being made to “end reservations under the guise of ‘reservation reform'” and called it “another deep plot against PDA society”.
PDA, as mentioned by the Samajwadi Party, stands for ‘Pichhda (Backward Classes), Dalit, and Alpsankhyak (Minorities)’.
“Reservation is the right of PDA, not the subject of anyone’s whim,” the SP Chief added.
He also accused the NDA of constantly making efforts to end reservation through different means.
“The way BJP and its allies oppose reservation from time to time by using vague words like ‘review’ or ‘reform’ or sometimes talk about ‘creamy layer’ or advise to ‘give up reservation’, these are different masks of the continuous effort to usurp the right to reservation that has been given to the exploited and deprived people for centuries,” Akhilesh Yadav alleged.
Meanwhile, several protesters who had gathered at Jantar Mantar for the anti-reservation demonstration on Friday were reportedly detained by Delhi Police.
Moreover, security was also tightened in and around the protest site amid a heavy turnout, according to a police official.
–IANS
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