According to media reports, Madhya Pradesh government led by the Congress party is unlikely to implement 10% reservation to Economically Weaker Section (EWS) of the general category. However, in a bid to woo voters prior to the Lok Sabha elections, Kamal Nath government constituted a committee to “study the matter” first, that too with an unspecified time frame.
Speaking on the issue of EWS reservation, Madhya Pradesh CM said, “Reservation to poor people is in the Congress manifesto and the government is ready, in principle, to provide 10% quota to them. We will form a cabinet sub-committee to examine and execute the proposal”. However, the formation of this timeless committee raise’s a question on the intent of the Congress government.
This statement of Kamal Nath came after Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA, Gopal Bhargava persuaded state government to implement the EWS reservation after the Centre pushed through the enabling legislation in the Parliament. Earlier, on January 19, Gopal Bhargava wrote a letter to the CM to fast pace the procedure of implementation. On that, Kamal Nath government gave a written reply, saying, “It is not possible to give a time-deadline by which the 10% EWS reservation in jobs and educational institutions will be implemented”.
Bhargava further raised the issue in the Madhya Pradesh state assembly debate and reminded the Congress party of their promise adding, “Even Congress had agreed to the proposal in Parliament. I request the chief minister to personally take a decision in the matter. This would help a large number of youth and the poor families will bless lawmakers”. Taking further his point, BJP leader Narottam Mishra said that there is no need to form a committee to examine a law passed by the centre as it will only delay the execution. He added, “This is an important issue related to the poor youth of the state. But it seems the Congress government has been discriminating against general category youths under a conspiracy.”
However, it seems that the Grand Old party is in no mood to put the center’s decision into practice. Earlier, during the passage of the Bill in the Parliament, the opposition led by the Congress party tried to create many hurdles, the house was adjourned many times because of the ruckus created by the opposition parties. The opposition also questioned the timing of the Bill and said that BJP is doing all this for electoral reasons.
It is clearly evident that the state government is trying to delay the implementation of the reservation. With elections round the corner, the Congress party for fearing loss of votes had no option but to support the Quota bill when it was debated upon in the Lok Sabha. But now when it comes to the implementation part, the Grand Old party appears to be blatantly ignoring the welfare of a large number of people belonging to the general category.