MUMBAI: Targeting the Narendra Modi-led NDA government over reservations, NCP president Sharad Pawar on Monday said the Centre amended the Constitution for providing quota, but there was lack of political will and, in fact, it misled the entire OBC community.
“Two years ago, the NDA government revoked the powers of state governments to decide the communities under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, and now it has amended the Constitution and restored the powers of states. But the amendment is misleading, since it will not benefit the OBC community owing to a ceiling of 50% on reservations,” Pawar said. “The only way out is to remove the 50% ceiling, only then justice will be done on the OBCs.”
Pawar pointed out that in 1992, a constitution bench of the Supreme Court comprising nine judges had made it clear that reservations can’t exceed 50%. Then, the Centre had amended the Constitution to provide for additional 10% reservation, and now it has taken the view that states can prepare the list of OBC communities and take a decision on providing reservation for them. “I do not think that it will help the state government in any manner in view of the 50% cap imposed by the Centre following the SC order. In my opinion, the NDA government has taken the entire OBC community for a ride over providing them reservations. I am told, barring Maharashtra, most of the states have long back crossed the 50% mark.”
Pawar added that the NCP will soon launch a massive movement to press its dem-and for removal of the 50% ceiling on quota. “We demand that the Centre initiate caste-based census, then it will be possible to do justice to small communities. For this, the Centre should provide empirical data to the state governments. When the issue came for discussion in Parliament, it was not taken seriously, as a result, the OBC community is at the receiving end,” the NCP chief said. He claimed that key issues in the row over reservations were raised by NCP members in Lok Sabha, but they were ignored.
