Bihar Sharif, Nalanda:
In the backdrop of the furore over Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat's comment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said there will be no dilution in reservation policy and that there has been no change in this wherever there is a BJP government.
"Rights given by Babasaheb Ambedkar for the socially backward classes will never be taken away by my government," the Prime Minister said at a rally in Bihar's Nalanda, where assembly elections are underway.
Realising the importance of Extremely Backward Castes in the remaining three rounds, the Prime Minister also did not refrain from playing EBC card at his third rally in Bihar.
He said he was a member of that community and the leaders of the anti-BJP alliance, Laloo Prasad and Nitish Kumar, can't stomach the fact.
Recently, the alleged comments of Mohan Bhagwat -- chief of BJP's ideological mentor RSS -- that he favours a review of the country's reservation policy, had forced the BJP on the backfoot in Bihar, which has a chunk of Dalits and backward classes.
Following the furore, the Prime Minister had categorically said in Mumbai, "There will be no rethink on reservation policy."
But two days later, Mr Bhagwat was quoted by newspaper Dainik Jagran as emphasising that he is not against reservation, but believes that the people for whom the quota policy was drawn have not benefited from it.
"So it must be reviewed and debated to ensure that those who actually need the benefit of reservation, get it," he had said.