RSS joint secretary clarifies organisation's view on reservation

Dattatreya Hosabale said M.G. Vaidya's remarks at Nagpur today (Saturday) are his personal opinion and the RSS does not agree with it.

New Delhi, Jan 21: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Joint General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on Saturday said the organisation wanted "reservation be implemented entirely".

The RSS clarification comes in the wake of back-to-back controversial remarks by its leader Manmohan Vaidya and later by his father and RSS ideologue M.G. Vaidya.

Hosabale termed M.G. Vaidya's remarks as his "personal opinion" and distanced the RSS from his comment, which was made in Nagpur on Saturday. The senior Vaidya is said to have suggested for the setting up of a committee to analyse the quota demand.

"Attempts are being made to create a controversy over RSS opinion on reservation. We strongly object to it. I had clarified the Sangh's position on reservation during the Jaipur Literature Festival and also at a press conference that followed. M.G. Vaidya's remarks at Nagpur today (Saturday) are his personal opinion and the RSS does not agree with it.

"The Sangh's opinion is very clear that the constitutionally provided reservation for the Scheduled Castes, Tribes and Other Backward Castes should continue. It is still needed and it should be implemented entirely. This is the authorised view of the RSS," Hosabale said in a video statement.

Earlier, releasing a press statement, RSS All India Prachar Pramukh Manmohan Vaidya clarified his earlier comment, saying: "The RSS is of the opinion to continue caste- based reservation provided in the Constitution for SCs, STs and OBCs. Reservation (for SC/ST/OBC) shall continue till the time caste-based discrimination remains in practice in the Hindu society."

The clarification came after opposition parties slammed the RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party over Vaidya's remarks on reservation during the Jaipur Literature Festival on Friday.

Manmohan Vaidya, head of the RSS Communications Department, had sparked off a row saying that no reservation should continue for long and the reason for the poor socio-economic status of the Muslims is that a vast majority of them belong to economically backward states.

"It has been widely held that no reservation should continue for too long as it begins to be taken for granted," Vaidya had said.

IANS