Tejashwi accuses NDA govts of being anti-quota | Patna News – Times of India
Patna: Leader of opposition in the Bihar assembly, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, on Sunday accused the NDA govts both in the state and Centre of being opposed to reservation, blaming them for doing nothing to include the hiked quota, as a result of recent caste survey, in the ninth schedule of the Constitution.
In a post on social media, Tejashwi claimed the Grand Alliance govt during its brief tenure of 17 months launched many initiatives such as conducting caste survey and increasing the quota limit for all communities to 75%, giving five lakh govt jobs to youths and also making three lakh more jobs under process.
“But both the BJP and NDA stopped the 65% reservation limit for dalits/OBCs and Adivasis,” Tejashwi alleged, accusing the NDA govts in the state and at the Centre of having ‘anti-quota’ mindset. “That’s the reason the NDA govt is not including the hiked quota granted by our (Grand Alliance) govt in the ninth schedule of the Constitution,” he alleged.
Senior JD(U) leader and parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, however, ridiculed the attempt by the RJD leader to take credit for the caste survey and increasing quotas for all communities. “The entire state knows that the decision to conduct the caste survey was taken in June 2022 when Nitish Kumar headed the NDA govt in the state. Then, why is RJD taking the credit for it?” Choudhary said while talking to the media on Sunday.
“Again, it was Nitish Kumar’s decision to increase the reservation limit after which a request was promptly made to the Centre to put this in the Ninth Schedule,” Choudhary said. Further, he termed as ludicrous the opposition’s demand to include the quota hike in the ninth schedule when the Patna high court has scrapped the 65% caste-based quota.
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The Supreme Court permitted states to sub-categorise Scheduled Castes based on socio-economic backwardness to ensure the SC quota benefits the most disadvantaged. A six-judge majority also endorsed the exclusion of the creamy layer among SCs and STs from reservations, requiring policies to be based on empirical data and subjected to judicial review.
RJD and CPI(ML) MPs demonstrated outside Parliament to demand the inclusion of Bihar’s increased 65% reservation for SCs, STs, EBCs, and BCs in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. This follows the Supreme Court’s recent refusal to stay a Patna HC order quashing the increased quota. MPs seek constitutional protection to safeguard the quota.
