Mayawati accuses Congress of double standards, calls it “anti-reservation” party

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], September 24 (ANI): Launching a scathing attack on Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party, BSP supremo Mayawati on Monday said that Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s stance on SCs, STs and OBCs reservation policy is hypocritical and double-faced.

Referring to Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on reservation in the United States, Mayawati said that on one side he supports 50 percent reservation while on the other he seeks to abolish reservation.

Taking it to a social media post on X, Mayawati wrote, “The SC/ST/OBC reservation policy of Congress and Rahul Gandhi is not clear but double standard and deceitful. In their own country, for their votes, they support reservation and advocate increasing it above 50% and when they go abroad, they talk about ending their reservation. People should be cautious of their double standards.”

The BSP supremo further hit out at the Congress for not having implemented the Mandal Commission report on OBC reservation.

The tweet reads, “It is also true that their government at the centre did not implement the Mandal Commission report on OBC reservation. Also, Congress did not let the Constitution Amendment Bill, which was brought in the Parliament for reservation in promotions for SC/ST effective after the BSP’s struggle, pass, which is still pending.”

Calling Congress an “anti-reservation” party, Mayawati accused it of not having conducted the ‘caste census’ during its tenure and said, “And neither did their government plead the case properly in the Hon’ble Court. These people should also be cautious of the anti-reservation Congress and other parties. Also, the Congress government in the Centre did not conduct caste census and now raising voice after being out of power, if all this is not hypocrisy then what is it?”

Notably, this statement has come after Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on reservation during his visit to the United States.

On September 9, Rahul Gandhi said that the Congress party would think of scrapping reservations when India becomes a “fair place,” which it is not. The Congress leader was interacting with students and faculty at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He also reiterated the need to conduct a caste census while saying that 90 per cent of the country’s population–OBCs, Dalits, and Adivasis–not having proper representation in the country is the “elephant in the room.”