'Too late' to reopen reservation issue: Tharoor

The existing reservation policy would continue despite calls within some sections for a revision of the same, Congress said today as it ruled out any move to reopen the issue when the country was in the election mode.
The debate on reservations and the criteria for the same is a delicate matter which cannot be carried out in the "heat and dust" of elections, Union Minister Shashi Tharoor said today.
"It is too late in the day... A number of students at the NSUI convention spoke on the matter. Issues of changes of this magnitude are not raised in the heat and dust of elections.

"Once elections are over, it can be discussed at party fora. Issues of this nature are to be reopened, calm reflection is needed in each party. Right now, the existing system will continue. The stand of the party right now is to continue with the existing reservation policy," said Tharoor, the Minister of State for Human Resource Development.
Earlier, at the NSUI convention, Tharoor expressed similar views when a young activist asked him as to why reservation was provided on the basis of caste and not on economic criteria.
Tharoor said that the consensus presently was for caste- based reservation.

"But I can see... That a lot of young people in our party would like a rethink on that and make it a purely economic reservation. Maybe we need a discussion within the party.

"But this is not the time. It is too late as we head into an election to start thinking of fundamental policies like this. But after the elections are over, when the UPA gets together or the Congress gets together, (we can) encourage a discussion on these issues," said Tharoor, who is also a Congress spokesperson.
He said that perhaps some of the seniors in the party should have thought about how reservation could be a combination of both caste and economic factors.

"I think there is a demand (for revision in the reservation policy) and we are hearing about it from students and young people. I personally have some sympathy for that demand because we have a lot of people who genuinely have need, who are being left out because they happen to belong to a higher caste. So after the election, let's come back to that issue," he said.