Quota bill, an election gimmick: CPI General Secretary Reddy

The NDA government has brought in the 10 per cent quota bill without a thorough debate and as an election gimmick, CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy alleged Wednesday.

"BJP brought this Constitutional amendment to give a false impression to poor in upper castes that we are giving reservations to you, as an election gimmick, without a comprehensive debate on all this," he told reporters here.

The Bill should be sent to the joint select committee for a debate and an all-party meeting should also be called to evolve a consensus, Reddy said.

The Bill is also part of NDA government's efforts to divert people's attention from the Rafale deal, he alleged.

"We express our serious reservation on bringing this bill without doing all this. To say in another way, this is one of the attempts made by the government to divert people's attention from many doubts coming from people over the Rafale deal," Reddy said.

The Bill would only add to the "battle (within)" by bringing in upper castes into the issue in the name of 10 per cent reservation for "imaginary jobs" as the few available jobs in public sector are not being filled up, he claimed.

"We ask, who is going to get jobs through these reservations," he said.

Alleging that a Pandora's box has been opened with the 10 per cent quota bill, he claimed that a day may come when every community will get a small portion of reservation or no reservation at all.

"Everybody would like to have more reservations. Ultimately, a day will come when they say either all people should get three per cent, four per cent according to the castes or no reservation to anybody. This may lead to such a type of (situation)," he said.

About 20 crore workers have participated in the general strike called by the trade unions on Tuesday and Wednesday, demanding security of employment, social security and bringing back the old pension system, the CPI leader said.

While the workers were on strike, the NDA government, instead of discussing the issues, passed a bill "against the working class on trade union registration", he said.

"This is a betrayal of the working class," he added.

He demanded that the Bill be taken back.

The CPI leader alleged that the Bill to amend the Citizenship Act (passed by Lok Sabha on Tuesday) discriminates against Muslims and it goes against the secular character of India.

He demanded that the government consider giving an extension to CBI Director Alok Verma as he was sent on leave.

"The Supreme Court has refused to it. Modi and the Chief Vigilance Commissioner both should take responsibility for it. They should apologise to the nation for having made such a grave mistake," he said.

Reddy criticised BJP MLA-elect in Telangana Raja Singh for his decision not to take oath under Pro Tem Speaker Mumtaz Ahmed Khan of MIM as the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party "speaks against Hindus".