ON APRIL 14, PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI, while participating in a rally in Hissar, Haryana, on the occasion of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s 135th birth anniversary claimed that Dr Ambedkar never envisaged reservation on the basis of religion. Reportedly, Prime Minister Modi said that, “To play politics, the Congress brought a law to give reservation on the basis of religion in government tenders. This is when Baba Saheb Ambedkar, in the Constitution, said that there should be no place for reservation on the basis of religion."
Modi has repeated this particular narrative recurrently in his speeches delivered in several parts of the country and during election campaigns as well. What he said in Hissar constituted a dogwhistle which effectively targeted minorities and notably, was also contrary to a proposal drawn out by Dr Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly favouring reservation for minorities.
EWS quota is not based on Ambedkar’s vision
The fact that Baba Saheb Ambedkar advocated for reservation for minorities is hardly known. While Prime Minister Modi has repeatedly, and rather fictitiously stated that Dr Ambedkar was against reservation for minorities, would he be able able to explain how his government’s legislation providing for ten per cent reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (‘EWS’) of society is in tune with Dr Ambedkar’s vision? Did Dr Ambedkar, either in the Constituent Assembly or in any of its Committees, take a stand in favour of reservation for EWS?
