HUNDREDS of students, youth, workers and women participated in a ‘Oust BJP-Save Constitution-Save Reservation’ march on 3 February 2019 holding photos of Dr Ambedkar, red flags, and placards with slogans to save the Constitution. The air reverberated with slogans against the 13-point roster, demands to reinstate the 200-point roster, save reservation, fight against attacks on the Constitution and the eviction of SCST/OBC from educational institutions. The rally, which began with the garlanding of Ambedkar’s statue, marched through the main streets of the city and reached Ara railway station where it culminated in a meeting. The march was led by senior CPI (ML) leader Com. Swadesh Bhattacharya, District Secretary Com. Jawahar Lal Singh, former MLA Com. Rameshwar Prasad, RYA National President Com. Manoj Manzil, Com. Raju Yadav, Tarari MLA Com. Sudama Prasad, and AISA leaders.
Protesters said that the 13-point roster amounts to daylight robbery of jobs belonging to the sections eligible for reservation. The ruling classes have always avoided proper implementation of reservation (provided by the Constitution) in higher education and there have been regular protests over this issue. But now even the reservation which had been implemented is being ended. Today, when lakhs of SC/ST/OBC youth are overcoming innumerable obstacles and completing their MPhil and PhD to knock on the doors of employment in Universities, this conspiracy is being hatched through the 13-point roster to deprive them of their Constitutional right to reservation.
Comrades Jawahar Lal Singh and Shiv Prakash Ranjan said that first the 10% reservation for the "economically backward” general category and now the 13-point roster are a violation of the 49.5% SC/ST/OBC reservation provided by the Constitution. As it is, a huge number of reserved posts are lying vacant and are deliberately not being filled. We demand that the government should take back this decision without delay and instead increase the budget for education and employment which has been drastically cut.
