NEW DELHI: Three years after his comment on quota apparently given the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ a poll handle in Bihar to rout the BJP, RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday opined that reservation should continue till the beneficiaries desired.
“The reservation policy has the support of the RSS to address the issue of social inequity. The problem arises with the politics behind reservation. It’s up to the people to decide how long it would take to bridge the social inequity. Even if the upper castes have to bend for 100-150 years to allow the disadvantaged to climb the social ladder, so be it,” said Bhgawat, while responding to a written question on RSS view on the reservation policy.
Amid simmering anger among the upper castes, the RSS chief also threw his weight behind amendments to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. However, he asserted that there should be no misuse of the law.
Addressing the issue of demographic imbalance in some regions and decline in Hindu population, he advocated a population policy with 50-year perspective for the country.
“Once the policy is adopted, it should be uniformly enforced across all communities. It should be enforced on priority at places where it’s most urgently required,” noted Bhagwat, adding that illegal immigrants posed grave threat to demographic imbalance.
He reiterated the RSS views on Article 370 and Ram temple at Ayodhya. “Article 370 must go... The Ram temple should be constructed at the earliest. Ram is not just a Hindu God, he’s a cultural icon for all those who live in the country,” Bhagwat said.
Giving an open invitation to members of the minority community to “experience” the RSS, he said, “If someone finds anything inappropriate in the RSS units, we will take cognizance.”