NEW DELHI: The Congress Party on Wednesday said that if the Patel community could demonstrate and protest for the demand of reservation under Other Backward Castes (OBC) category, then other upper castes like Brahmins and Rajputs should not be left out.
“If economically influential, politically powerful and socially upward communities are demanding reservations, then why leave the upper castes like Brahmins, Rajputs and Bhumihars out,” asked Congress leader Manish Tewari.
“If castes like Patels, Jats and Reddys or any other upwardly mobile community demands reservation, and nobody is disputing that, then why leave the upper castes behind,” he added.
Tewari further said that the way the reservation story has panned out across the country, the real backwards of today are the Bramhins, Rajputs and Bhumihars.
He also asserted that time has come to revisit the entire basis of reservation.
Tewari also said that Tuesday’s Patel community agitation is a failure of the Gujarat model of development and socio-economic equality that was the brainchild of Narendra Modi when he was the chief minister.