New Delhi, Feb 10 (UNI) Against the backdrop of the Supreme Court order over the reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government jobs and promotions, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday hit out Narendra Modi-led BJP government and the RSS saying his party will not allow them to erase reservations.
'I want to tell friends in Dalit, Adivasis and OBC communities that we will not allow the reservations come to an end, no matter how much Modi ji or Mohan Bhagwat dream of it,' Mr Gandhi said on the Parliament premises.
The former Congress president was responding to the Supreme Court order which stated that state governments are not bound to give reservation in jobs and promotions and that there is no fundamental right to reservation in promotions.
The Apex court had given the verdict over a batch of petitions pertaining to reservations to SC/STs in promotions in the posts of Assistant Engineer in PWD in Uttarakhad.
The Supreme Court had also set aside the Uttarakhand High Court order, which directed the state government to provide reservations.
'RSS and BJP cannot stand the idea that Dalits, Tribals and OBCs have reservation. It is in their DNA. They wake up every morning and it irritates them. It is in our Constitution and these rights are guaranteed by our Constitution. They attempted to remove reservation one way or other. You have seen what they did to Ravidas temple. You have seen what they did to SC/ST sub plan. Now they arguing that it is not a fundamental right. So, it is there in their DNA to erase it', Mr Gandhi added.
He also went on to say, 'I want to tell my friends in the SC/ST, OBC community, that it does not matter what fantasy that the RSS and BJP are living, we are not going to allow it. My point is we are not going to allow the BJP, RSS to erase the reservation”.
Terming it as a direct attack on the Constitution, the Congress leader alleged that the BJP, RSS are trying to destroy every institution in the country.
'They never wanted persons from SC/STs to progress. They are breaking the institutional structure,' he added.
On Sunday, the Congress had targeted the Uttarakhand government, which is ruled by the BJP, over their stand to not provide reservations in jobs and promotions for SC/ST communities.
The grand-old-party had also stated that it is ‘respectfully’ disagreeing the Supreme Court order and asked for the BJP's stand on this issue.
NDA allies, the Lok Janashakti Party and the Janata Dal (United) had also expressed their worry over the apex court judgment.
UNI KNA SB 1254