MUMBAI: Asserting that the Constitution was bigger than any court judgment, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Monday asked the Centre to enact a law to remove the 50 per cent cap on reservations, as mandated by the Supreme Court.
He also slammed the use of force by marshals in the Rajya Sabha last week as an “attack” on democracy. Claiming to be an eyewitness to the “horror” inside the House, Pawar said, “The marshals were called from outside. They not only blocked the way of MPs who were going in the well but even manhandled the women parliamentarians. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut was pushed and almost physically lifted by the marshals and blocked from all sides…This was nothing but a brutal attack on Parliament and its democratic procedure. I had never witnessed such scenes in my 55 years of political career.”
“The well-built marshal used their muscle power to push the Oppositions MPs back… Usually, we have seen eight-ten marshal on any given day and time. But that day, 40 marshals were present. It shows the intention of the ruling party, how they want to run the House and the government,” the former Union minister said. The fact that the government fielded seven-eight ministers later to justify its action showed it was on a ‘weak wicket’, he added.
Accusing the Centre of ‘deception’ on the quota issue, Pawar said the passage of the constitution amendment bill restoring the right of the states/Union Territories to make their own OBC lists would be meaningless unless the Centre brought in a constitutional amendment bill removing the 50 per cent limit on reservation in jobs and education.
Political parties in Maharashtra are in a fix as the Supreme Court had struck down the Maratha quota introduced by the state government in 2018 for exceeding the 50 per cent limit. Pawar also demanded that a caste-based Census be carried “to get the real picture” and do “justice to backward communities deprived of their legitimate right”.