Congress pitches for quota in private sector, India Inc cries foul

NEW DELHI: With the Congress planning to promise SC/ST reservation in private sector, India Inc on Wednesday expressed unhappiness over the proposed move, with some calling it a populist measure.

Biocon MD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw tweeted, "Congress's manifesto demanding private sector reservation for SC/ST is populism at its worst." Calling the move an admission of 'clueless economic failure', Shaw said, "SC/ST reservation in Private sector is Congress's innovative PPP model for National Employment Guarantee Scheme NEGS!"

The Scheduled Castes Cell of the AICC headed by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's close aide K Raju is learnt to have made a strong pitch for a legislation to have a mandatory quota for the SCs/STs in the private sector.

The proposed move has also generated political backlash, with parties saying that people will not be fooled. BSP leader Sudhindra Bhadoria told Times Now, "This coming from the Congress is humbug. Dalits will not be fooled."


Watch: Congress manifesto: Focus on quotas?




On the other hand, Congress has sought to defend its stance. Abid Rasool Khan, Spokesperson of Congress told Times Now, "There is a responsibility towards the weaker sections."

With unemployment a key concern amid the slowdown of economy, the party's poll document is likely to unveil Congress' intent to create 100 million new jobs for the youth by 2020.

Rahul's push to create some kind of minimum financial security to 70 crore people falling in the layer between the middle class and the below poverty line will also find some concrete formulation in the party's poll document.

There is a view in the party that this segment comprising artisans and lower income professional groups, domestic and migrant workers, could become the party's support base at a time when the urban middle class appears to have tilted towards BJP.