Mayawati attacks Rahul, says Cong failed to reason with anti-quota protesters at Jantar Mantar

New Delhi, Aug 23 (IANS) Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday launched a scathing attack on Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for harbouring an “anti-reservation mindset”, adding that no one from the Congress party tried to reason with the people protesting against the caste-based reservation system at the Jantar Mantar.

She was referring to the protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, demanding reservation on an economic basis rather than based on the caste system. She said that the attempt to abolish the reservation provided to Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backwards Classes (OBCs) in the Constitution is not in the national interest.

In a post on X, Mayawati said, “The recent demand raised by some people who gathered at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to implement reservation on economic grounds, against the reservations provided to the SC, ST, and OBC communities in the Constitution, is in no way appropriate or in the interest of the nation. They should not undertake any action regarding reservation that harms the constitutional efforts to build an egalitarian society, a developed and honoured country.”

Taking aim at the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi, the BSP chief said, “However, on the same day, senior Congress leader Shri Rahul Gandhi sat on a dharna for several hours outside the Parliament police station to get an FIR registered in the case of a victim, to which the party has no objection.”

“But right next to it, at Jantar-Mantar, a dharna-protest was also underway to end the reservation given to Dalits and the exploited on the basis of caste, yet neither he nor any of his Congress companions went there even to reason with them, which clearly reveals their still anti-reservation mindset towards these sections,” she added.

The former Chief Minister also invoked Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, who had said, “Abandoning casteism is the greatest patriotism”, and stated that the SC, ST, and OBC communities have been “victims of the inhumanity of casteism for centuries in the country”, and therefore, it would be “more appropriate for people to demonstrate true patriotism”.

“As far as providing reservation on economic grounds is concerned, the central and state governments spend considerable government funds every year on not just one but numerous programs for poverty eradication; however, if the people of the country do not receive the proper benefits due to the prevalent corruption and other issues, this is a direct fault of the governmental system,” she said.

In addition, Mayawati asserted that the new system of reservation on economic grounds is also in place in the country, but “even its proper benefits are not reaching the poor families of the upper-caste society; rather, there is more deception in it”.

“In reality, this is especially the corrupt and casteist governmental system that has never properly implemented the constitutional constructive provisions of reservation on the ground, due to which the people of the SC, ST, and OBC communities, even after such a long period since independence, continue to endure the suffering of poverty, casteist hatred, exploitation, atrocities, and the poison of casteism every day at every level without respite,” she said.

“Therefore, all governments should not provide any shelter or protection to anti-reservation elements at all, as this would be in the broader interest of the nation and the people,” the BSP chief added.

She further made an appeal to the people that they should not engage in or allow “cheap politics” on “such an important and sensitive issue” as reservation.

–IANS

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