April 6, 2007
UPA-Left Leaders for Quotas
From This Academic Session
New Delhi
Leaders of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and its Left
allies Friday reiterated their commitment to enforcing quotas for
students from backward classes in elite educational institutions
from this academic session itself.
Meeting at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence Friday evening,
the leaders asked the government to return to the Supreme Court to
seek vacation of the March 29 stay enforced by an apex court bench
on reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) students in
institutes of higher learning.
Apart from Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and union Human
Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh were also present. The
Left was represented by Communist Party of India-Marxist politbureau
member Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of India national secretary
D. Raja and Revolutionary Socialist Party leader Abani Roy.
Others present included Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad
and his lieutenant Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP)
chief Ram Vilas Paswan, DMK leader T.R. Baalu and PMK's Ambumani
Ramadoss.
Already, most political parties, including the Left, had reacted to
the court's stay on quotas and asked the government to take
immediate steps to get it vacated.
Some within the UPA such as LJP chief and union Steel Minister Ram
Vilas Paswan had demanded a census of castes to determine the
contentious question of the numerical strength of the backward
castes in India.
The court on March 29 had stayed the quotas questioning the 1931
census as the basis for determining the numerical strength of the
OBC population in the country.
Paswan had also demanded setting up of an 'Indian Judicial Services
Commission' with the requisite quota of the scheduled castes and
backwards.
A similar demand for caste-based census was also made by RJD deputy
leader in parliament Devendra Prasad Yadav. He also demanded that it
be "held within three months and conclude before August, to prevent
the OBC students from being denied reservations in admission to
institutes of higher learning and suffering because of the current
stay".
Within the Congress there are two views. A section is opposed to any
caste-based census while remaining committed to OBC reservation, and
the others feel that it should not go too far in confronting the
judiciary. The Congress may find support in its opposition to
caste-based census from the Left at an all-party meeting likely to
be held later, and even from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
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