Congress general secretary Mukul Wasnik on Monday said the party would stridently oppose within the ambit of the Constitution the recent Supreme Court judgment denying reservations in public posts was a fundamental right
Terming the judgment ‘unfortunate’, Mr. Wasnik said submissions made by the BJP-led Uttarakhand government betrayed its anti-Scheduled Caste and Tribe attitude.
“They claimed reservations for the communities was not a fundamental right. The BJP and the RSS are taking decisions against the Constitution. We will fight every kind of battle to oppose it within Parliament and outside it, which will be a long haul, so that benefits accrued to the communities since Independence are accorded in the future too,” he told reporters here.
Saying RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had repeatedly stated reservations in jobs and promotions needed a rethink, he said, “It’s unclear what new form they want to bring about. But their sinister intention is clear.”
He said Manmohan Vaidya, prachar pramukh of the RSS, had claimed that in the name of reservations, people had been kept divided. “He says ‘It is our responsibility to end the system’. Ours, meaning the RSS,” said Mr. Wasnik.
Furthermore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a book had justified carrying human waste on heads by those belonging to the Valmiki community claiming they practised it willingly, he said. “As if they take pleasure in it. It’s unfortunate such a person holds the highest position.”
Mr. Wasnik said the BJP had even sabotaged the sub plans for the Scheduled Castes and the Tribes, introduced by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which mandated a 15% and a 7.5% share of the Budget for them, based on their population. “The BJP’s economic policies have rendered many, including those from the communities, jobless.”
As regards the RSS’s purported plan to coerce tribals into declaring themselves Hindus in Madhya Pradesh during the forthcoming census, he said, “Nobody has given the right to anyone to appropriate such power in themselves to decide which community belongs to which religion. It is ultimately for the individual to decide what faith one has to follow.”
He said the BJP, considered tribals ‘vanvasis’ (forest dwellers) and not ‘adivasis’. “Adivasis are those who’ve lived at a place since time immemorial. But those who believe in Manuvad, will naturally think this way,” he said.
Asserting that the Congress was committed to tribals and Dalits getting equal opportunities in society, he said, “For centuries they have been victimised. They are not votebanks for the party.”
