New Delhi, August 23, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday targeted Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over a protest at Jantar Mantar demanding reservation on economic grounds, alleging that neither he nor other Congress leaders attempted to engage with the protesters.
Mayawati said any attempt to replace the constitutional reservation system for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) with an economic criterion would not be in the national interest.
In a post on X, she said the demand raised at Jantar Mantar was inappropriate and urged people not to undertake any action concerning reservation that could undermine constitutional efforts towards building an egalitarian society.
She contrasted the protest with Rahul Gandhi’s demonstration outside the Parliament police station, where he had sought registration of an FIR in connection with a separate case.
“However, right next to it, at Jantar-Mantar, a dharna-protest was also underway to end the reservation given to Dalits and the exploited on the basis of caste, yet neither he nor any of his Congress companions went there even to reason with them,” Mayawati said.
She claimed this reflected what she described as the Congress’ “anti-reservation mindset” towards SC, ST and OBC communities.
The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister invoked B.R. Ambedkar and his statement that “Abandoning casteism is the greatest patriotism”, arguing that SC, ST and OBC communities had suffered caste-based discrimination for centuries.
On demands for reservation based on economic status, Mayawati said both the Centre and state governments already spend substantial amounts on poverty-alleviation programmes. She alleged, however, that corruption and administrative shortcomings prevent the intended beneficiaries from receiving the full benefits.
She also said an economic-based reservation system was already in place, but claimed that poor families from the upper-caste communities were not receiving its benefits adequately.
Mayawati alleged that the failure to properly implement constitutional reservation provisions had contributed to the continued poverty, caste discrimination, exploitation and atrocities faced by SC, ST and OBC communities decades after Independence.
She urged governments not to provide “shelter or protection” to anti-reservation elements and appealed to political parties and the public to refrain from what she called “cheap politics” over the sensitive issue of reservation.
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