Vasundhara calls for review of Reservation Policy

New Delhi, June 7 (UNI) Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje who had come under heavy stress in the wake of Gujjar agitation demanding ST status, has emphasised the need for a change in the mindset over the reservation issue.

In an interview to the Hindi weekly 'Outlook', she said "There is a decline in government jobs. Reservation in jobs was important as long as when the government was provider of maximum number of jobs. But today it is not so. Therefore, the situation has changed. The very purpose of reservation has eroded and agitations for reservations seem to be outdated." Calling for a change in the mindset to look at the very issue of reservation, she said it must be understood that the Government today has a very limited role in maintaining the reservation level, while the society had a bigger role to see who should get the benefits of reservation policy.

The chief minister expressed her unhappiness over the manner some ministers of her government and Gujjar and Meena MLAs behaved during the week-long agitation. They should have done their constitutional duty, she said.

''If you are holding a constitutional post, it is your duty to obey it. In democracy, national interest is above all other considerations including castes," she said.

Holding Congress responsible for the situation, Mrs Raje said she had inherited this problem from the previous Congress government.

During 1981 Congress rule in the state, then chief minister Shivcharan Mathur had recommended to the Centre to provide ST status to two castes which did not include Gujjars, Mrs Raje added.

She declined that she had promised Gujjars ST status in her election speeches. "I have not misled anybody. I have just said that I will look into their problems. If I were to assure them on the matter I will have included it in our manifesto,'' she clarified.

Justifying police firing on the agitationists, she said the protestors should also not exceed their limits.

Meanwhile, Congress MP from Dausa, Sachin Pilot has appealed to the creamy layer's not to avail reservation facility for the good of society so that children belonging to the weaker sections could benefit from the policy.

In an interview in the same issue, he also reinforced the need to include children from poor among uper caste for reservation. Caste politics will not last long and it will do no good for the country, he said.

UNI