RSS reiterates support to reservation, terms controversy over Bhagwat's remarks 'unnecessary'

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Monday said it supports the reservation provided to the people in the Constitution and claimed that attempts were being made to create an "unnecessary controversy" over Mohan Bhagwat's speech in the national capital on Sunday.

Speaking at an event, Bhagwat had said that there should be conversation in a "harmonious atmosphere" between those in favour of reservation and those against it.

After his remarks sparked controversy, the RSS came forward with a statement clarifying its stand on the reservation.

The Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) criticised Bhagwat's remarks claiming that it exposed the "anti-Dalit-backward face" of the RSS and the BJP.

RSS spokesperson Arun Kumar said that there were "attempts to create an unnecessary controversy over a part of Mohan Bhagwat ji's speech".

"He called for a discussion on sensitive topics like reservation in a harmonious atmosphere. As far as RSS' view on the reservation is concerned, it has been made clear several times that the Sangh supports reservation to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, and economically-backward people," he said in a statement.

Earlier, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said Bhagwat's remarks on the reservation has exposed the "anti-Dalit-backward face" of the RSS-BJP.

"Attack on the rights of the poor, trampling on Constitutional rights, snatching the rights of Dalits-backwards. This is the real BJP agenda," he said.

BSP chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati said reservation was a humanist constitutional system and tampering with it was "inappropriate and injustice."

"An open-hearted debate on the issue of reservations of SC/ST and OBC creates a deadly situation of suspicion, which is not necessary," she said.

The RSS chief had made similar remarks on the reservation during the election campaign to Bihar Assembly in 2015.

Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Janata Dal-United's Nitish Kumar used the reservation issue to attack the BJP saying the saffron party was against the rights of weaker sections.

Many of the BJP leaders had then openly said that Bhagwat's remarks damaged the BJP's prospects in the elections.

Assembly elections are likely to take place in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand later this year.