Blood will flow on roads if quota tweaked: Shyam Rajak

PATNA: JD(U) national general secretary and Bihar’s industries minister Shyam Rajak on Wednesday said “bloods will flow on the roads” if any attempts were made to tamper with the reservation for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes. He also warned that the country will be divided if any attemps are made to end the quota system.
“If the existing system of reservation for SC, ST and OBCs is ended, it will break the hearts of the downtrodden, the poor and the backwards across the country.If their hearts are broken, the country will be divided,” Rajak said, warning that no one should dare to tamper with the provisions of the quota system.
Raising strong objections to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s statement on the reservation issue, Rajak told TOI that there should be an assessment of “niyaat” (intention) of such people who have been demanding a review of the caste-based quota system for the downtrodden and the backwards. Bhagwat had, in his remarks on Tuesday, sought an “amicable discussion” on the quota system.
“Such people should first review the hierarchy of their organization and tell the country how much representation they have so far given to dalits and backwards in their decision-making or executive body,” Rajak said, without naming the RSS.
This comes a day after Rajak’s cabinet colleague and deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi (BJP) said that Bhagwat’s statement was being “misinterpreted” by some opposition leaders. Other BJP leaders such as state agriculture minister Prem Kumar, too, defended Bhagwat.
On being asked whether Rajak was hinting at RSS, Rajak, who holds an important portfolio in Nitish Kumar-led cabinet, said, “I have not taken the name of any organization. In fact, most of the political parties in the country have so far not given adequate representation to the people hailing from the SC, ST and OBCs. There should be a review of why Dalits and backwards are not getting adequate representation in the decision-making bodies of political parties.”
Terming Bhagwat’s statement as “unnecessary”, Rajak also said when PM Narendra Modi and JD(U) president and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar have already made it clear that reservation for SC, ST and OBC would continue, what is the need to raise such issues. “These people should first explain whether those hailing from SC, ST and OBCs have gotten due representation in the government bodies,” he asked.
Bhagwat, while speaking at a programme in Delhi on Sunday had said, “There should be conversation in a harmonious atmosphere between those in favour of reservation and those against it. Those who favoured reservation should speak keeping in mind the interests of those who were against it, and similarly those who opposed it should do the vice versa.”