Former Union Finance Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Singh on Friday demanded that the Centre should set up a new Commission to look into whether the reservation cap of 50% for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) could be increased or not. Mr. Sinha also took a swipe at Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for reading out his budget speech while sitting in his chair.
“Though the implementation of reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs have brought changes in society,a lot [still] needs to be done. For this, the Central government should set up a new Commission to study their present status…the Commission should give its recommendations on whether increasing the cap of 50% of quota fixed by the Supreme Court is needed or not,” said Mr. Sinha, while speaking at a programme organised by Vanchit Varg Morcha, a non-political organisation, in Patna. Mr. Sinha, who was the chief guest of the programme, further said that the new Commission should also look into questions such as, “What is the present status of people belonging to the SC, ST and OBC categories vis-a-vis reservation?... What are the problems and how will these problems be dealt with in days to come…on the issue of reservation in promotions, scholarships and the social uplift of these communities, which is of utmost importance.”
Later, on the sidelines of the programme, he explained to mediapersons that he was not saying the reservation cap of 50% should be increased. “I am for a new Commission to further strengthen the principles of the existing reservation [policy],” he asserted.
Earlier, when former Bihar Assembly speaker and patron of the programme, Uday Narayan Choudhary, requested Mr. Sinha to address the audience while sitting in his chair, the senior BJP leader took a swipe, without taking the name of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, to say that he “...was not like the FM who had read out his budget speech while sitting.”
“I have delivered all seven of my budget speeches in a standing position, whereas the current Finance Minister has delivered his budget speech sitting in his chair…here also, I will deliver my speech from the podium,” Mr. Sinha said, drawing applause from the audience.
In an oblique comment on Mr. Jaitley’s reference to him as a “a job applicant at the age of 80”, Mr. Sinha said, “This is the State where people in their 80s [freedom fighter Veer Kuer Singh] took up swords to fight against the Britisher.”