BSP welcomes reservation for economically weaker sections of upper castes

New Delhi, Jan 8: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Tuesday welcomed Union Cabinet decision to provide reservation for economically weaker sections of upper castes.

BSP chief Mayawati, said, the announcement of quota for the upper caste is a political stunt ahead of the Lok Sabha election (Lok Sabha chunaav se pehle liya gaya ye faisla humein sahi niyat se liya gaya faisla nahi lagta hai, chunavi stunt lagta hai, rajnitik chalaava lagta hai, acha hota agar BJP apna karyakaal khatam hone se thik pehle nahi balki aur pehle le leti)

The government on Monday announced 10 per cent reservation in government jobs and higher education for economically weaker sections in the general category and said it would move a constitutional amendment bill to bring it into effect.

The Cabinet approved the move just months before the national election. The constitutional amendment bill is likely to be moved today and the government has decided to extend the Rajya Sabha session by one day.

However, activists and intellectuals of the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities criticised the government for proposing quotas for the economically weaker sections.

"Reservation is not a poverty alleviation programme. It is a question of representation of people who have been denied that in institutions for millennia. This move is obnoxious and a political stunt," Hindustan Times quoted Vivek Kumar, a professor at JNU, as saying.