Religion, Caste And Tribe Based Reservation - 3

[acharya]

Poojary hits out at anti-quota agitators

Special Correspondent

The protest may lead to social unrest in the country, says former KPCC chief

MANGALORE: Rajya Sabha member and former president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) B. Janardhana Poojary has criticised the anti-reservation agitation in the country saying it has been "engineered" by upper castes elitists.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Mr. Poojary said the agitation could become a major reason for social unrest in the country, as the anti-quota proponents had not understood the implications of such a movement.

He said 54 per cent of the population belonged to the backward classes, 22 per cent to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and 13 per cent were minorities. So, the reservation for this 89 per cent of the population was only 50 per cent whereas the rest was for the 11 per cent population in the general category, which was not "social justice."

He said the first Prime Minister of the country Jawaharlal Nehru thought about setting up elite institutions to give the country's youth a chance to come up in life based on their talent. But only 11 per cent of the population, mainly belonging to the upper castes, were dominating in the elite institutions. And they did not contribute to the progress of the country in any way as many of them preferred to go abroad while the talented children of the poor suffered because of lack of opportunities.

Mr. Poojary alleged that the anti-reservation agitation was being sponsored by corporates that feared that the reservation policy might be extended to the private sector.