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PM Modi says Congress was always against reservation, cites this letter by Nehru
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Congress was inspired by the British and that is why it continued with the symbols of slavery for decades.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday countered Congress efforts to rake up the reservation issue by alleging that the grand old party has always been against any kind of reservation. Replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks in the Rajya Sabha, Modi cited a letter written by Jawaharlal Nehru to chief ministers saying it clearly states that the first prime minister was against reservation of any kind, especially in jobs, as it adversely affected the functioning of the government.
“I am reading out its translation - 'I dislike any kind of reservation, more particularly in services. I am strongly against anything which leads to inefficiency and second-rate standards' That is why I say that they are against it (reservation) by birth...Had the government recruited at that time and promoted them from time to time, they would have been here today,” Modi said.
"The Congress strangled democracy for power and dismissed democratically elected governments. The Congress has been against Dalits, backwards, tribals and had it not been for Babasaheb Ambedkar, they would not have got any reservation," he said.
Jawaharlal Nehru on reservation
Former union law minister HR Bhardwaj Bhardwaj, in his book titled 'Nehru: Gazing at Tomorrow', has quoted extensively from Nehru’s letter to chief ministers on June 27, 1961 in which the then prime minister had opposed quota on caste and communal lines, particularly in service.
“If we go in for reservations in communal and caste basis, we swamp the bright and able people and remain second-rate or third-rate. I am grieved to learn how far this business of reservation has gone based on communal consideration,” Nehru wrote.
“It has amazed me to learn that even promotions are based sometimes on communal and caste considerations. This way lies not only folly, but disaster. Let’s help the backward groups by all means, but never at the cost of efficiency. How are we going to build our public sector or indeed any sector with second-rate people?”
