Chunav Manch: Amit Shah promises status quo on reservation, says BJP against religion-based quota

In an attempt to assuage backward and scheduled caste voters ahead of Uttar Pradesh elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah said today that the status quo on reservation will not be touched by the government in any case. 

“Our stand on reservation is very clear. The status quo should be maintained. We are against religion-based reservation but reservation being provided currently should not be touched,” Amit Shah said at India TV’s Chunav Manch Conclave in Lucknow today. 

When questioned on remarks by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat and Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh of RSS Manmohan Vaidya  on reservation, Shah said the organisation had passed a resolution to assert that the current reservation system should not be touched. 

Shah questioned parties who promise religion-based reservation on how they propose to do so with a 50 per cent cap on quota that has already been reached. 

“Some parties have in past promised to give reservation on the basis of religion. My question to them is how they plan to do that as 50 per cent cap has already been reached. Whose quotas will they cut to give reservation on the basis of religion?” asked the BJP president. 

He asserted that religion-based reservation is unconstitutional and should not be attempted. 

Countering allegations that the BJP brings up the Ram Mandir issue only before elections, Shah said that his party will construct the temple in Ayodhya but the matter is pending before the court. 

He said that the BJP has, in every election manifesto in the past, promised to construct Ram Temple, including in 2012 Assembly polls and the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, but cited judicial proceedings in the matter behind its inability to act on it. 

In an hour-long discussion with India TV Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma, Shah also targeted the opposition parties over dynasty politics while defending the BJP on similar allegations.

When questioned about BJP’s own record in handing tickets to family members of senior party leaders, Shah said, “Dynasty politics is when you go out of merit to bring someone in politics. We have considered the merit of the person while awarding tickets.”

“There are only seven or eight sons of leaders among 400 candidates,” he added. 

Targeting the Congress, he said that the party has not produced a single leader of merit after 1967 but the control of party is passed on from one family member to another. 

Taking on Samajwadi Party, Shah said, “If you look at their members of Parliament, they are all from a single family.” 

The BJP leader also targeted incumbent Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on the issue of corruption and said that the state government has committed irregularities in all recruitments. 

“The Allahabad High Court had to remove the chairman of Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission,” Shah told India TV. 

He claimed that almost every state has accepted the recommendation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to scrap interviews for class 3 and class 4 jobs except for the UP government. 

Shah further alleged that there was irregularity in road construction by the Akhilesh government saying that while the “Centre constructs one kilometre of road in Rs 18 crore, the state government did so at Rs 31 crore per km.”

He said that when BJP comes to power in UP, all these ‘scams’ will be investigated. 

Shah said that the BJP is contesting this election on the issue of corruption and law & order.

Answering a question from a member of the audience if Centre is stopping judicial appointments because it lost on National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC), Shah said that BJP government's record in appointing judges is better than the previous governments. 

Commenting on the recently forged alliance between the Congress and ruling SP, Shah said that the tie up was because Akhilesh realised that his party was going to lose in the upcoming polls. 

“Samajwadi Party has accepted its defeat even before the elections and now has formed an alliance with the Congress,” Shah said, adding that Akhilesh can not escape anti-incumbency. 

He termed the alliance as a fraud and claimed that there were 12 seats in the state where both parties are in “friendly contest, whatever that is.”

Amit Shah claimed that the BJP will form a majority government in UP and promised to restore law and order. 

When quizzed about BJP’s CM face for the state, Shah said that the party was able to form governments in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana without a CM face and will do so again in UP. 

Talking about the steps that Narendra Modi government has taken to fight black money, Shah said that Centre is trying to bring back the illegal wealth stashed in Swiss banks and is also trying to stop money going abroad. 

He added that Centre’s demonetisation move was not an isolated action and was one part of the chain of actions that government has planned to fight corruption and black money. 

“We are fighting to bring money from Swiss banks and also to prevent black money from going abroad,” Shah added.