BJP distances itself from RSS’ views on reservation

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 21

With the Opposition latching on to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s statement seeking a review of the reservation policy to corner the BJP ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, the saffron party today clarified its stand on the sensitive issue while distancing from its mentor's point of view. 

Rejecting Bhagwat's point of view on the quota review, the saffron party said it was against any such proposal. “ The BJP indeed is very clear and very categorical that there is no need to reconsider reservation nor does the BJP support it (such demand)," senior leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said on a day NDA allies RLSP and LJP, which draw strength from backward and SC/ST vote banks, also rejected Bhagwat’s suggestion. It termed reservation in India is a “settled issue” as mandated in the Constitution.

Explaining the BJP's stand, Prasad said: “It is the BJP's firm commitment since Jan Sangh days that reservation is essential for social and economic development and empowerment of SCs, STs, backward and extremely backward castes. The BJP is not in favour of any reconsideration of reservation being extended to these groups.” 

Ahead of the 'make or break' Bihar polls , members of the Grand Alliance comprising the RJD, JD-U and Congress have been having a field day on the issue, terming Bhagwat's statement an "interference" and attempt to "weaken" the SC, ST and other backward communities.

Though the RSS has said Bhagwat's statement should not be read in context with weaker sections of society, in the battleground Bihar, where the BJP and its Bihar allies are not just fighting dissent within but also from allies like the Shiv Sena, party leaders admit that such statements can be used to hurt the saffron prospects.