New Delhi, Oct 24 : As Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Karpoori Thakur’s native village today, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has raised three pointed questions challenging the government on reservation policies and social justice issues.
Ramesh’s first question revisits Karpoori Thakur’s landmark 1978 decision to grant 26 percent reservation to backward classes. He asked whether PM Modi would acknowledge that his party’s ideological predecessors the Jan Sangh and RSS opposed this historic policy, raised derogatory slogans against Thakur, and played a role in destabilizing his government. “Will the Prime Minister today apologize on behalf of his ideological predecessors for that historic mistake?” Ramesh demanded.
His second question addressed the contentious issue of the caste census. Ramesh accused the government of insulting Dalits, backward classes, extremely backward classes, and tribal communities by dismissing Congress’s demand for a caste census as an “urban Naxal agenda.” He noted that despite repeated requests in Parliament (July 2021) and the Supreme Court (September 2021), the government has refused to conduct the caste census, ignoring the rights of millions from marginalized sections.
Finally, Ramesh questioned why Bihar’s Assembly proposal to increase reservations to 65 percent, based on the caste survey, was not included in the Ninth Schedule for constitutional protection unlike Tamil Nadu’s 69 percent reservation secured in 1994. “Why was Bihar’s 65 percent reservation not similarly protected?” he asked, stressing the need for stronger safeguards for backward and marginalized communities.
Karpoori Thakur’s legacy as a champion of social justice continues to spark debate, and Jairam Ramesh’s pointed questions place renewed focus on how political parties address the aspirations and rights of India’s deprived sections. The Prime Minister’s response could influence the discourse around reservation policies and caste representation in the country’s evolving socio-political landscape.