New Delhi, Oct 04: Describing the Union Cabinet decision to accord reservation for economically-backward classes (EBCs) as an "unfiltered electoral gimmick", CPI(M) today said its timing exposed the "insincerity and opportunism" of the government. "This issue has been under discussion since the Mandal Commission days. The Vajpayee government refused to act all these years," the party polit bureau said in a statement. However, the decision merited consideration, it said and asked the government to initiate a national consultation process. The government's economic policies have ensured "the transfer of national assets to private capital, thus, reducing drastically employment opportunities based on job reservations in the country. With growing unemployment and privatisation, reservations have little meaning left", it said. Asking the people to "see through this gimmick", it said the BJP had resorted to "adding caste-based politics to its religion-based communalism" as a means to improve its electoral fortunes. "That the whole exercise is a ruse becomes clear with the cabinet decision to set up a commission to work out the modalities".
Bureau Report