LUCKNOW: With campaigning on in five poll-bound states, political parties are leaving no stone unturned to lure voters. “It is very important to uplift the OBCs among Muslims, especially with elections around the corner,” explained Mr Salman Khurshid who has already been issued a show-cause notice by the Election Commission (EC) for his “nine per cent OBC Muslim quota within OBC quota” promise despite the model code of conduct having come into force.
But the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh has stirred up a fresh controversy. She says she is against the current system of reservation in trains, something she claims is anti-Dalit. She said: “I am totally against the current reservation policy followed by Indian Railways. It is a farce. The railways calls it reservation just to mislead the public and create an illusion that it is ensuring social equality and justice. There are serious shortcomings that need to be addressed. For instance, there are some general compartments in almost all trains. As the name suggests, there is no reservation in these general coaches. It has been found that most of the people who travel in general compartments are poor Dalits and people belonging to Backward Castes. The other compartments are reserved coaches. The ‘reserved’ tag is dubious. Many non-Backward Caste people benefit from such reservation and gain easy entry to reserved coaches. All they have to do is book the ticket in advance. The railways tries to give the impression that its reservation system has everything in common with the reservation policy followed by educational institutions and recruitment boards of government agencies. But their double standards have been exposed. This is outrageous. This is a conspiracy.
“The UP government formally appeals to the ministry of railways and the Prime Minister to abolish the current railway reservation system and to implement a strict caste-based reservation system on all trains. Instead of the current sleeper class, I AC, II AC, III AC, general, Chair Car, Second Sitting etc, we propose that there be SC/ST, OBC & General coaches; 22.5 per cent of all coaches should be SC/ST coaches and 27 per cent OBC coaches. The UP government also seeks permission to install statues of elephants in each compartment of trains entering or leaving UP.”
Chief election commissioner Mr SY Qureshi said if this proposal is accepted, elephant statues in all compartments would have to be covered with pink drapes since the model code of conduct was in place. Mr Khurshid said Miss Mayawati’s proposal for SC/ST, OBC quota in trains was flawed. He felt that there should be nine per cent quota for backward Muslims within the OBC quota. The BJP was quick to react. Mrs Sushma Swaraj said: “Religion-based reservation is against the Constitution and will cause a great deal of consternation among the majority community. We have no reservations about expressing our reservations in the matter of religion-based reservation. It is divisive, will polarise the country and cause disunity. However, we welcome caste-based reservation.”
In another election related news, a group of wild elephants strayed into Lucknow city yesterday. The animals ran amok when some workers appointed by the EC attempted to cover them with pink drapes. Also, there is a persistent rumour that the Samajwadi Party has appealed to the EC to keep Mr Nitin Gadkari covered whenever he visits Uttar Pradesh. But Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav has rubbished such rumours.
The EC has confirmed receipt of representations from some political parties seeking a revamped electoral system and introduction of caste-based constituencies wherein each constituency would be associated with a particular caste. Only people from a particular caste would be able to contest or vote in that particular constituency. “This is not totally absurd,” explained Mr Qureshi. “This way at least we can ensure a level-playing field and discourage caste-based inducement and voting; and focus on real issues of development!”
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