RSS never opposed reservation: Mohan Bhagwat

Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said the Sangh had never opposed reservation given to certain groups and maintained that the video making the rounds on social media, in which he is seen speaking against quotas in a meeting, is fake.

Mr. Bhagwat’s denial came amid a war of words between the BJP and the Congress in the ongoing General Election campaigning. Opposition parties are claiming that the BJP if it returned to power for the third time, would rewrite the Constitution and abolish the reservation policy.

“A video is being circulated on social media platforms claiming that the [Rashtriya Swayamsevak] Sangh is against reservation and that we can’t say this in public. I am visible taking a meeting in the video. I say that the video is fake and that I have never said this,” Mr. Bhagwat said while speaking at the opening of a Vidya Bharati Vignana Kendra school in Hyderabad.

He also clarified that the RSS had always stood for reservation, as sanctioned and guaranteed under the Constitution, and that the organization believed reservation should continue as long as it was necessary for those who needed it, provided it was for reasons of backwardness and lack of parity in terms of their living or social standing.

“Reservation should remain in place as long as discriminations are not eliminated,” he added.

Calling out those behind the video, Mr. Bhagwat said there was a section of society that misused technology and vidya (education) only.

Mr. Bhagwat’s statement came days after Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had said that if the BJP secured 400 seats, it would rehash the Indian Constitution to make India a country without reservation for any caste.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has also recently accused the BJP and the RSS of attempting to destroy the country’s diversity.

This is not the first time the RSS’ top brass have come forward in support of reservation.