Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati advocates scrapping reservation system

Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati has advocated scrapping the system of reservation in education and government jobs for backward classes.

"It has not done any good to those who enjoyed reservation. Instead, it has created a wedge in the basic structure of the society," he told PTI.

The Hindu religious leader said people hailing from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes could not become self-reliant as they were provided crutches of reservation, and added real growth in a person comes out in competition.

Speaking on the issue of political defection, he said that like criminals, a defector should be barred from contesting elections.

Parliament should enact a law, debarring defectors from contesting election, if the exercise has been done for personal gains. "It should be checked, even if, it was done to ensure majority of a party in Parliament and assemblies," he said.

On the issue of exclusion of 40 lakh people from National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, he said it was "part and parcel" of the BJP's vote bank politics.

No one should be removed from the country, the Shankaracharya of said, criticising the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).