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Chowdhary Charan Singh on Reservations

Chowdhary Charan Singh, a Jat leader, was the founder of Lok Dal, an ex Prime Minister, Charismatic leader of Backward castes and the political Guru of Sharad Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Laloo Prasad Yadav and many others. He wrote to Sri Banarasi Dass, the then Chief Minister of UP, about the Reservation as under: –

“It must be conceded that Reservation on the basis of caste is vicious principle and creates many problems. More than Reservation in recruitment, it is Reservation in promotions that have led to great heart burning and great inefficiency in our services. Such Reservation, whether in favour of scheduled or backward castes, was, in my opinion beyond intentions of the founding fathers. Boys belonging to poor families, particularly those, where large section of our people are considered socially inferior for centuries past, are entitled to consideration rather than concessions at the hands of the Government of Independent India.” ⁱ

Chowdhary Charan Singh was also against extending Reservation to SCT beyond 10 years, as is evident from the contents of the same letter, “The Union Government however, has for political reasons, been extending the period of Reservation decades after decades. There should be bar on children of those, who have benefited from Reservation and those who are income tax payers, so that other less fortunate could be helped…Children of all those, who have already been benefited by Reservation and thus have been brought in a cultural environment higher than the average, should not be entitled to this concession.”

October 9, 2009 - Posted by latasinha | Reservation/Affirmative action program | Views on Reservation Policy