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Reservation should continue as long as inequality exists: RSS gen secy
Calling caste-based reservation an instrument of affirmative action that has an important role to play in social justice and equality, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said on Tuesday that reservation and reconciliation (among communities) have to go hand-in-hand
Calling caste-based reservation an instrument of affirmative action that has an important role to play in social justice and equality, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said on Tuesday that reservation and reconciliation (among communities) have to go hand-in-hand.
The RSS leader was speaking at the launch of a book, ‘Makers of Modern Dalit History’, authored by Guru Prakash Paswan and Sudarshan Ramabadran. There he said that the political, cultural, social and spiritual history of India will be incomplete and untrue without the Dalit contribution.
Hosabale claimed his organisation and he himself are staunch supporters of caste-based reservation. He gave the example of western countries to buttress his argument. “...in Europe and America, there has been an effort at reconciliation on the part of the African blacks. Reservation and reconciliation both have to go hand-in-hand,” he said, adding that while reservation is a historical necessity, reconciliation is for the future.
Hosabale also defended the Sangh from the charge levelled by opponents that it is against caste-based reservation in government jobs and educational institutions. He said the RSS has been at the forefront in denouncing casteism.
“When we discuss the various aspects of the Dalit community and the Scheduled Tribe sections of the society, certain aspects invariably come to the fore. One of them is reservation. My organisation and I have been staunch supporters of reservation for decades. In 1980, when there was an anti-reservation movement on some campuses, we passed a resolution and organised a seminar in Patna,” Hosabale said.
He said that the RSS has said “time and again” that “reservation is a historical necessity” and will be needed in India for many more decades as long as certain segments of the society experience any inequality.
The RSS leader also referred to the sub-categorisation of castes within the Dalit community but said it is not for him to comment whether that is good or bad for society.
“I stay in Uttar Pradesh and travel across the country, and I meet a lot of people across sections. I have felt… identity is not limited to Dalit itself; within Dalits, the question of identities is being deliberately raised by intellectuals. I am not saying whether I am for or against it; I am only making an observation. It is too early to say whether such a development is good for the society or not,” Hosabale said.
The RSS functionary went on to say that social harmony and social justice are not political strategies but articles of faith for the Sangh.
The RSS, which is the ideological fount of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has been running samajik samarasta or social harmony campaigns to end discrimination on the basis of caste.
The campaign had become the genesis for the BJP’s social engineering strategy where it aims to expand its base among the other backward castes that have been socially and economically deprived by giving them political representation.
