Mohan Bhagwat’s quota may be bribe to upper castes: Ram Jethmalani

NEW DELHI: Even as the BJP grapples in Bihar with the after-effects of the controversial remarks of RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat on the reservation policy, eminent lawyer and Rajya Sabha member Ram Jethmalani has caused fresh embarrassment for his former party by stating that these words could be interpreted as being an "election bribe" to higher caste voters in the poll-bound state and sought to know how the NDA government proposes to "annul" the quota system for SCs, STs and OBCs when it has failed to get even ordinary Bills passed in Parliament.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bhagwat, Jethmalani has said that the remarks of the RSS chiefwhom he describes as his venerable friend- have come at a "most inopportune and somewhat unfortunate" time. He has suggested that Bhagwat should come clear on the issue if he has been misquoted.

"It is a reasonable inference that every citizen is entitled to draw that this was intended to be an election bribe to voters belonging to the higher castes for just this election. I am sure this will not even win the Patel votes because they are too intelligent to believe that the government can make good this immoral and unconstitutional promise at any time in the near future," he said in his letter.