Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Sunday, while endorsing the quota system for Dalits, further amplified its stand on reservation saying its benefits are being cornered by a tiny crust, and that more deserving people must become beneficiaries of affirmative action.
“The well-off should relinquish reservation to help weaker sections of society… (else) we would be deviating from the thought of Ambedkar and the spirit of the Constitution,” RSS propaganda chief Bhaiyyaji Joshi said at the end of the three-day conclave of Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, RSS’s highest decision-making body.
Asked whether he was referring to the “creamy layer”, Joshi did not reject the interpretation and instead suggested that further deliberations were required. “The issue of creamy layer is matter of discussion and study. It will not be correct to comment on it outright,” Joshi said.
Joshi’s observations come within months of RSS sarsanghachalak Mohan Bhagwat’s interview before the Bihar elections, in which he had called for an all-party panel to review the implementation of reservation policy. Bhagwat’s remarks were used by RJD-JD(U) combine to portray BJP as anti-quota and create a forward-backward divide in the state, facilitating Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance to an electoral sweep, according to many political observers.
Incidentally, BJP president Amit Shah was in Nagaur for all three days and was part of the deliberations during which resolutions were discussed and finalised. The saffron fountain-head also released a resolution on social harmony seeking to eradicate evils like untouchability.
“Any kind of discriminatory practice should be uprooted altogether. For the smooth functioning of society, it is essential that all social and religious institutions steer the course based on our hoary ideals of life,” said Joshi.
On the resolutions on education and healthcare, Joshi said it was underlined that these facilities should be available to everyone.
“Accessibility, affordability and quality of these services should be there for all,” he said. adding, “One should understand the pain of the backward communities. Social justice and harmony should be developed.”