Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday openly backed reservations in India as long as discrimination exists in our society. Addressing a gathering at an event in Maharashtra’s Nagpur, Bhagwat said that the RSS supports all reservations provided in the Constitution.
“We kept our own fellow human beings behind in the social system. We did not care for them, and it continued for 2000 years. Until we provide them equality, some special remedies have to be there, and reservations is one of them. Hence, reservations have to continue till there is such discrimination. We at the RSS give all support to the reservations provided in the Constitution,” news agency PTI quoted Bhagwat as saying.
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Bhagwat further said that reservations are about giving respect and not just about ensuring financial or political equality. “If sections of society faced discrimination suffered for 2000 years, why cannot we (those who did not face discrimination) accept some trouble for 200 more years,” he added.
The RSS chief said that till the time communities which have faced discrimination are provided with equal opportunities, special measures are necessary.
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The remarks come amid the ongoing Maratha quota stir and marks a shift in the stand from a few years ago. In September 2015, Bhagwat’s call for a review of the reservation policy amid the Patel quota stir received severe backlash.
In an interview with RSS mouthpieces ‘Organiser’ and ‘Panchjanya’, Bhagwat said, “We should have an integral approach of welfare for all. It is sensible to realise that my interest lies in a larger interest. Government also has to be sensitive to these issues so that there should not be any agitation for them.”
The RSS chief then went on to propose a committee of people “genuinely concerned for the interest of the whole nation and committed for social equality, including some representatives from the society, [who] should decide which categories require reservation and for how long”.
He also argued then that the policy of reservations based on social backwardness is not in line with what the makers of the Constitution had in mind.
As his remarks set off controversy and left the BJP red-faced, the RSS issued a statement that “it firmly supports the existing reservation policy enshrined in the Constitution” and that the remarks were “distorted by critics to create confusion about the organisation’s view over the issue”. The BJP also clarified that it “respected 100 per cent the reservation rights of the SCs, STs and other backward castes.”