Political reservation is a constitutional right, says Athawale

Mumbai: Amid the demand for revocation of political reservation by Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar, the RPI chief and Union minister of state for social justice Ramdas Athwale on Tuesday said that the political reservation is a constitutional right and nobody can take that away.

He also threatened to protest if anybody tries to scrap the reservation and said that it would be great injustice to Dalit and tribal community.

 Mr Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, demanded the scrapping of “political reservation” in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha constituencies for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The Dalit leader had also said that no party has the guts to revoke such reservation at present because of “vote bank politics” and fear of losing power.

The RPI chief said, “Babasaheb Ambedkar had made a provision for social, educational reservations along with the political reservation in the Constitution of India. Therefore, political reservation is a constitutional right of Dalits. Nobody can take the rights away.”  

Mr Athawale said that the size of elected representatives of Dalit and tribal communities would be reduced in the Parliament. Atrocities against backward class people cannot be resolved without being in the government. Therefore, if a political reservation is scrapped, the communities would experience a great loss.