Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Tuesday welcomed the 10% reservation announced for economically weak sections of the general category but questioned the timing of the decision by the Union government months before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. She described the decision as a "political illusion" and "election stunt."
Ms. Mayawati said reservation for "poor savarnas" (poor upper castes) had been a long-standing demand of the BSP. Though the Modi government had accepted it in an "incomplete and half-baked" manner, her party supported the decision of the Union Cabinet.
The four-time Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh also demanded that the 50% cap on quota for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes (OBC) also be reviewed with "good intent" and the reservation for these groups be increased according to the rise in their population over the years.
Ms. Mayawati argued that the decision taken by the BJP government right before the 2019 Lok Sabha election did not appear to have been done with the right intention.
"It would have been better had the government taken the decision not right before its tenure ends, but much earlier. So that this new reservation policy could be implemented in a proper way or provide true benefits to the poor savarnas," she said.
Also, after the BJP would have paved the way for it in Parliament as well as in court, people would have less scope to doubt the party's intention and policy, she said.
The Constitution Amendment Bill will also cover those from the Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist and other minority communities. The quota will be over and above the existing 50% reservation to the SCs/STs and the OBCs.
The BSP has four members in the Rajya Sabha and none in the Lok Sabha.
