Senior JD(U) leader Shyam Rajak questions PM Modi's assurance on reservations

Senior JD(U) leader Shyam Rajak on Wednesday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assurance that reservations would not be scrapped, saying it reflected "double standards" as RSS was opposed to it.

"On one hand RSS is laying stress on review of reservation. On the other hand, you (Modi) are saying that reservation would not be scrapped. Its a double standard," Rajak, a close associate of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, said in a letter to the PM.

While RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had pitched for review of the reservation system last year, Modi ruled out scrapping of reservation at a public meeting in Coimbatore on Tuesday.

"You are giving such statements in furtherance of Dalit vote bank politics knowing very well that your government does not have majority in the Rajya Sabha. Hence, you are not in a position to do anything significant on this count," Rajak, a Dalit leader, said in the letter.

"Your prolonged silence on the statement of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat stressing on the need for review of reservation policy for Dalits reflects that your current statement is not from the heart, but merely from the mouth," he said.

Rajak said he was not questioning the tears shed by the PM over death of Dalit student Rohith Vemula. He said if the PM is sensitive, he would probe Vemula's death by someone who is kind towards downtrodden and remove HRD minister Smriti Irani and Labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya.

To prove his credential to Dalits, the PM should provide reservation to the community in private sector and implement reservation for SC and ST in promotion immediately, Rajak said.