Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi will fight those exploiting reservation for politics: Prakash Ambedkar

REAL OBJECTIVE of reservation was to uplift socially and economically weaker sections of people, but over the years, mainstream political parties had misused it to promote their own agenda and politics, said VBA president Prakash Ambedkar on Sunday.

“Neither Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Maratha reservation was right nor its decision to disallow additional reservation for OBC in zilla parishad and panchayat samiti polls,” said Ambedkar.

Last week, the apex court rejected the Maharashtra government’s review petition against its March 4 ruling that reservation for OBC communities in local bodies should not exceed aggregate of 50 per cent of total seats reserved in favour of SC/ST/OBC taken together.

The state government had earlier reserved 27 per cent seats in local bodies for OBC.

In the first week of May, SC struck down its reservation for the Maratha community in government jobs and education.

“On both accounts, the onus also lies with the state government. The state government cannot absolve itself from responsibilities. It will have to pursue the matter legally and constitutionally to get reservation restored,” he said.

Ambedkar said the VBA had committed to poor and oppressed class segments across caste and communities.

“Our commitment is for Bahujan Samaj. It is non-negotiable,” adding, “when we say Bahujan Samaj, it includes all segments across caste and class socially and economically, who have been long deprived of basic amenities. Therefore, I have appealed to poor Marathas to decide whether they want to remain with mainstream parties exploiting them for polls, or join with the VBA in its fight to uplift poor and backward sections,” he said.

Ambedkar also said the VBA was not against Maratha reservation.

“We want the state government to restore reservation to Marathas in education and government jobs at the earliest. The question is why is the MVA government not filing the review petition to challenge SC decision. It should explore all options to push for reservation. Putting the ball in the Centre’s court is not the solution, whether it relates to Marathas or OBC or promotion in government jobs. If SC has struck down these reservations, it should work to strengthen to make it foolproof.”