RSS ideologue bats for separate reservation for upper caste

New Delhi: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue Rakesh Sinha on Monday said that people belonging to upper caste but economically backward should be given reservations.

“There should be a separate reservation for economically backward upper caste,” India Today quoted Sinha as saying.

Referring to the reservation demands in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana, Sinha said, “We are trying to engage with civil society on the question of reservation policy review.”

The comments come after the RSS said that it opposes reservation for the affluent sections of the society.

In a veiled reference to the Jat agitation, RSS said that it favoured a study to find out whether the deserving backward classes are getting the quota benefits.

RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi has said that the provisions for reservation made by Bhimrao Ambedkar were for social justice and that concept should be kept in mind by those demanding reservation today.

"It is felt that this thinking (demand by affluent class) is not in the right direction. People of such (affluent) class should give up their right and should help the weaker section of the society. But instead, they are demanding reservation for themselves," India Today quoted him as saying.

On Saturday, Sinha hit back at Congress MP Ghulam Nabi Azad over his RSS analogy and said: "Only mentally bankrupt person can compare RSS with ISIS. He is giving respect to ISIS by saying such a thing. He is preparing ground for ISIS in the country by saying this."

Azad, however, said that his comments at the event organised by Jamiat-Ulema-i-Hind last week were misinterpreted.

"I request BJP parliamentarians to go into a room to listen to this CD. This is the CD of my speech. If anything wrong is found in it, you can move privilege motion," said Azad, as he waved a CD in Parliament.