10% quota to fetch electoral gains to NDA: Paswan

Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday said the decision to provide 10 per cent reservation in jobs and education to upper castes would help the NDA in the upcoming Lok Sabha election and that the opposition parties' objection to the Constitution Amendment Bill was just a pretence.

"People are happy because of the quota. If people are happy, there will be (electoral) benefit," he told the media here.

He made an appeal to people to bring back the NDA government to power for "the historic step" taken by Prime Minster Narendra Modi providing quota to the economically weaker section from the upper castes.

Paswan said the Supreme Court had struck down a similar move in 1990s by the P.V. Narasimha Rao government saying there was no provision for reservation on economic status and had asked for suitable constitutional amends.

"Now, there has been an Constitutional amendment. I do not think the Supreme Court will object to it," he said.

Soon after the national Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is voted back to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the amendment bill would be placed in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to make it immune from judicial scrutiny, he added.

All parties had given quota promises in their manifestos for 2014 elections, so the objections raised by the opposition parties to the bill was just "a pretence".

"They were nervous and agitated on how Modi got a big catch. They wanted an excuse. Why did they vote in the favour of the bill if they had objections?" he asked.

Rajiv Gandhi had also got nervous when Mandal Commission was implemented, he added.

He took a dig at opposition parties, particularly the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), for opposing the bill and said these parties want "confrontations in the society".

Paswan asked why Congress-ruled governments which had Prime Ministers belonging to the upper castes, failed to bring a quota for general category.

--IANS

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