The BJP asserted on Friday that the party and the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi were totally committed to social justice and providing quotas to weaker sections, a day after the Supreme Court said that reservation of seats to certain communities in educational institutions was not a fundamental right.
“Some people keep trying to spread misinformation on the issue of reservation. The Government of India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bhartiya Janata Party are committed to providing reservation. Our commitment to social justice is unshakeable. We stand committed for reservation and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly said this,” said Nadda.
The BJP chief said his party constantly worked for social harmony and ensuring equal opportunities.
Nadda’s comments came in the wake of a Supreme Court order where it said that the right to reservation was not a fundamental right.
However, the BJP, keen not to let political opponents use it to dub the party anti-reservation, immediately came out to make its stand clear. Significantly, in the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections, the opposition parties had attacked the BJP, accusing it of being anti-reservation.
Meanwhile, the leader of key NDA ally LJP and Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan demanded that all parties come together to put all laws related to quota in the ninth schedule of the Constitution, which will preclude any legal challenge to it.
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.
Expressing disappointment that controversies often kept arising on the issue, Paswan said 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 Thursday refused to entertain pleas of various political parties challenging the Centre’s decision not to grant 50 per cent 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.
The court had, however, appreciated their concern for the welfare of the backward castes.