‘Where are the jobs?’ questions Nitin Gadkari on the Maratha reservation
Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said that the quota reservations won’t guarantee employment because there are “no jobs”
Responding to questions on the ongoing commotion between the Maratha community and the Maharashtra government for reservations, Gadkari took to Twitter to make a statement regarding Maratha reservation.
“Let us assume the reservation is given. But there are no jobs. Because in banks, the jobs have shrunk because of IT. The government recruitment is frozen. Where are the jobs?” he tweeted.
My attention has been drawn to certain media reports attributed to me. There is absolutely no thinking at the central government to change the reservation criteria from castes to economic conditions.
— Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) August 4, 2018
“The problem with the quota is that backwardness is becoming a political interest. Everyone says I am backward. In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Brahmins are strong. They dominate politics. (And) They say they are backward,” added the BJP leader.
“So one school of thought is that a poor is poor, he has no caste, creed or language. Whatever may be the religion — the Muslim, the Hindu or the Maratha (a caste), in all communities there is one section which has no clothes to wear, no food to eat.”
Another school of thought says that one must consider the poorest of the poor section in every community, wrote Gadkar on his Twitter handle.
The senior politician of the saffron party also requested the protesters to maintain peace while the Maharashtra government, led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, works to bring a solution to the Maratha reservation.
“The government is committed to Maratha reservation in a time-bound manner. It is our endeavour to ensure that when enforced, the reservation would be full proof and withstand constitutional and legal scrutiny,” Fadnavis had said earlier as quoted by the Indian Express.
“The responsible political parties must not add fuel to the fire,” he added.