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PM rules out any change in reservation policy

Prime Minister A B Vajpayee made it clear in the Rajya Sabha today that there was no change in the government policy on reservation either for scheduled castes or scheduled tribes.

Vajpayee was responding to Congress and other Opposition parties who raised the issue in the context of the reported observations of Urban Development Minister Ram Jethmalani calling for a review of constitutional provisions for reservation.

Both houses of Parliament today witnessed uproarious scenes on Jethmalani's statement for a review of the reservation policy.

In the Lok Sabha, the prime minister also announced that the government was for 33 per cent reservation for "women in legislatures" and the issue would be discussed at an all-party meeting in New Delhi tomorrow so that the Bill could be introduced in the current session of Parliament. He disagreed with the proposal to bring it down to 15 per cent.

The entire Opposition and some of the constituents of the ruling coalition in the Lok Sabha were up in arms against Jethmalani's reported remark that it was time "for a review" of the reservation policy as it had been there for 50 years.

Several members sought the resignation of the minister as he, according to them, violated the collective responsibility of the Cabinet. One Opposition member even said that this was a breach of privilege of the House as the minister was not expected to make policy announcements outside the House when Parliament was in session.

Ram Vilas Paswan (Janata Dal) said nobody could scrap reservations as it was not a party matter. Unless the prime minister clarified the position, he said he would demand the resignation of Jethmalani from the Cabinet.

Vaiko (Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazagham), a supporter of the government, said Jethmalani's statement was unfortunate, but it should be treated as his personal view.

All Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham leader S R Muthiah said reservation should continue. He said if the minister had spoken against the national agenda, he should not be allowed to continue in office.

Dr Subramanian Swamy (Janata Party) said the BJP believed in caste system and this was reflected in the party's Rajya Sabha nomination to Arun Shourie who had called Dr B R Ambedkar a 'British stooge'.

Leaders from almost all parties took part in the impromptu debate and pleaded for extension of reservation, though some of them said the benefits of the policy were not percolating down to the poorest among the communities.

There was a strong demand that the prime minister should come to the House and clarify the position, and the Opposition was not ready to listen to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana.

Khurana tried to say there was no change in the reservation policy. But he was not allowed to speak by the Opposition members who wanted the prime minister to come to the House.

The prime minister then came to the House and listened to the pleas made by members for action against Jethmalani.

Jethmalani also came and clarified his statement saying that there was some faulty reporting of his statement and he was all for extension of the reservation policy until the last member of the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities attained the highest level of dignity in the society.

UNI

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