A day after the Supreme Court said quota is not a fundamental right, BJP president J.P. Nadda clarified on Friday that his party and the Modi government were committed to reservation.
While the BJP underscored its support to reservation, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan demanded that all parties should come together and put all laws related to quota in the ninth schedule of the Constitution which will preclude any legal challenge to it.
In a statement, Mr. Nadda said some people were trying to create confusion in society about reservation. “The government under Modi and the BJP are committed to reservation. Our commitment to social justice is unbreakable. We stand committed to reservation. PM Modi has repeated it again and again. Our endeavour is always towards social harmony and equal opportunity for everyone,” he said.
Mr. Paswan said reservation, which provides scheduled castes and tribes, other backward classes and economically backward members of general castes quota in government jobs and educational institutions, may not be a fundamental right but is very much a constitutional right.
Also read: Amend Constitution to make reservation a fundamental right, says Ramadoss
He expressed his disappointment that some controversy is often raised over the issue, even though reservation for the scheduled castes and tribes owes its genesis to the Poona Pact between Mahatma Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar.
“The LJP appeals to all political parties, who have joined hands over the issue earlier as well, that they should come together to put all laws regarding reservation in the Constitution's ninth schedule to lay all controversies to rest,” he said in a statement.
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain pleas of various political parties challenging the Centre's decision not to grant 50% reservation to OBCs as per Tamil Nadu law in medical seats surrendered by the State in the all-India quota for undergraduate, postgraduate and dental courses in 2020-21, saying the right to reservation is not a fundamental right.
The top court asked the political parties, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), CPI(M), MDMK of Vaiko, PMK of Anubmani Ramadoss, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee and CPI, to approach the Madras High Court with their pleas for grant of OBC quota in medical admissions.
