No need for review of reservation policy: Sharad Yadav

Patna, Jan 25: JD(U) on Monday suggested that there is no need for a review of the existing reservation policy in jobs and education, a day after Lok Sabha Speaker appeared to advocate a rethink on the policy.

"Only political reservations (seats reserved in Lok Sabha, state Assemblies) were to be reserved for 10 years and the policy review was to be made after that as mentioned by Babasaheb B R Ambedkar, and that is why after every 10 years, the Parliament extends political reservations," JD(U) President Sharad Yadav said.

"The limit of 10 years was not laid down for reservations in education and employment," he said. In Gandhinagar, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had reportedly said that "B R Ambedkar ji had said that give reservations for 10 years and after 10 years do a rethink."

She had, however, later explained that she was not expressing an opinion for or against reservations. Yadav said reservations have been introduced for social uplift and while political uplift which means seats reserved in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies were to be reserved for 10 years and a policy review was to be made, this limit was "not laid down for reservations in education and jobs".

During last year's Bihar Assembly election, Yadav's party JD(U) had made a big issue out of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's remarks that appeared to favour a review of the reservation system. Speaking at the 'Karpoori Thakur Jayanti Samaroh' here today, Yadav said the height of caste discrimination is clear even today from the suicide case of Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad Central University, an incident which he termed as "national shame".

"I am surprised that our government follows Europe and America for all purposes but when it comes to flexibility in religion and way of life, they are very strict," he added.

"If we really want to get rid of economic, education and social disparities in the country, the abolition of caste system is the only solution and now the time has come to start a debate on this issue as soon as possible," he said.

He lauded former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur, saying he contributed for the uplift of the deprived section of the society.

PTI