Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Monday asked the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to “renounce” its “anti-reservation mentality,” a day after its chief Mohan Bhagwat said there should be a conversation in a harmonious atmosphere between those in favour of quota and those against it.

“The RSS saying that there should be an open-hearted debate on the issue of reservations of SC/ST and OBC creates a deadly situation of suspicion, which is not necessary,” said Ms. Mayawati on Twitter.

The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said reservation was a humanist constitutional system, and tampering with it was “inappropriate and injustice.”

Her comment came in response to the statement by Mr. Bhagwat that those who favoured reservation should speak keeping in mind the interests of those who were against it and those who opposed it should do vice versa.

The RSS chief was speaking at the concluding session of Gyanotsav, a programme on competitive exams organised by the RSS-affiliated Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas at the Indira Gandhi National Open University in New Delhi.