"Constitution Doesn't...": S Jaishankar Slams Opposition Over Faith-Based Quota

Delving into the ongoing political slugfest over religion-based reservation, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar slammed the Congress and other opposition parties of the INDIA bloc, saying they systematically used the argument of faith to take away reservation from those who had it and fiddled with the Constitution the maximum number of times.

In an interview with news agency ANI, asked about the Opposition's claims that BJP might eradicate reservation and that it has no respect for the Constitution, Mr Jaishankar said it is the Congress and some parties of the INDIA bloc that attacked reservation quotas in the country based on religion.

"Who has actually attacked reservations in this country? Congress and some parties of the INDI alliance. They have systematically used the argument of faith and created minority institutions and taken away reservations from those who had it," S Jaishankar said.

The External Affairs Minister further stated that the Constitution does not provide faith-based reservations but Congress and its partners are "implementing and advancing faith-based reservations".

"Constitution provides reservation to SCs, STs, and OBCs. The Constitution does not provide faith-based reservations. But effectively you are implementing and advancing faith-based reservation and then you say, 'I have respect for Constitution'," he said.

Mr Jaishankar recalled the 10-year tenure of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the Centre and questioned the way the government functioned under former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

He also slammed Rahul Gandhi for tearing a copy of an ordinance passed by the Union Cabinet in 2013.

"Tell me which article of the Constitution allows governance by remote control? Who was controlling policy for the 10 years of UPA and what was the Constitutional sanctity of it? When somebody (Rahul Gandhi) can come to the meeting and tear up what the Cabinet has approved, where is the respect for the Constitution? If you think you are entitled to tear up what you don't like, you really think people are going to buy that," S Jaishankar said.

"80-odd amendments to the Constitution were done by whom? It was the Congress. A party which has the record for changing the Constitution most now have the temerity to say that other people intent on the Constitution," he added.

On Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee not agreeing with the Calcutta High Court order scrapping OBC certificates issued after 2010, Mr Jaishankar said defying a court order is not a way of practicing a democracy.

"We have all been at the receiving ends of the courts. You don't say to the court that I won't obey what you say. An administrative authority does not defy a judicial pronouncement. That's not the way democracy functions. You are talking about the future of democracy... Defying the court is not a way of practicing democracy," he said.

Ms Banerjee, at an election rally on Thursday, said, "Not everyone in the courts is bad. I respect the judiciary. But the person who has given this order, I don't accept his judgment. I will not accept it. OBC reservation will continue. I will move the higher courts if needed. They don't know me. I am not someone who will bow to their whims."

The Chief Minister said that the OBC reservations were implemented in accordance with the law and, even earlier, petitions were filed against it but the appellants lost.

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday cancelled all OBC certificates issued in the state after 2010. It directed the West Bengal Backward Classes Commission to prepare a new list of OBCs in accordance with the 1993 Act.

Those who made it to the OBC list before 2010 will remain. However, all OBC nominations after 2010 have been cancelled. An estimated five lakh OBC certificates are set to be cancelled in light of the order.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)