By Pervez Bari
Bhopal: The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has termed the move to provide 10 percent reservation for upper castes (the unreserved category) with reference to their economic backwardness a political gimmick and eyewash by BJP with an eye on forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
SDPI national president M. K. Faizy in a statement said that it is the need of the hour to save community quota reservation system permanently so that it doesn’t get assaulted again and again by upper caste controlled political parties. The present move is a deliberate violation of constitutional provisions related to reservation in government services. He warned that the proposed constitutional amendment will be proved invalid.
The concept of the reservation was initially meant for proportional representation in parliament and state assemblies which never happened. However, it was hijacked in a conniving manner and put into practice only in the government job sector, that too not adequately, he said.
Faizy said that this step is a proof that BJP government does not have anything to showcase for the next election. They are trying all the options. He cautioned that the voters need to be vigilant about such gimmicks on the eve of a general election.
He said that real beneficiaries of such reservations are always rich people. To give real benefits, earning limit should have been kept much lower than Rs.8 lakhs as announced. With Rs.8 lakhs, the majority of people will be included, thus, not really benefiting poor. This is a masterstroke from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Faizy pointed out that the Bill cannot be passed in Rajya Sabha as BJP has no majority in it. The planned legislation may not take a shape at all. He observed that by opening the Pandora’s Box the government is likely to lose its support from all backward communities, as the party will be seen as a forward community party, putting BJP in a more disadvantaged position.