Reservation not an issue for RSS, says Bhagwat

We favour development of the entire Hindu community, says Sangh chief after facing criticism from several quarters for seeking a review of the quota system

NAGPUR: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat, who faced criticism for calling for a review of the prevailing caste-based reservation system, on Saturday evening said reservation was not an issue for the Sangh and asserted that the RSS always supported developmental efforts for all sections of society.

Speaking at a meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Valmiki Mahasabha, a frontal organisation of the saffron outfit, Bhagwat said the Sangh was in favour of development of the entire Hindu community and supported all efforts to end disparity and untouchability within the community.

Earlier, in his customary Vijaydashami speech in Nagpur, the RSS chief had credited Dalit icon Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar for building the Constitution with a view to remove social and economic inequalities towards the weaker section of society.

In another function in Nagpur on Saturday evening, Bhagwat claimed that the people of Kenya drank the blood of cows to survive, but did not kill them or eat their flesh. He said in certain situations such as a famine, people in Kenya inserted a tube made of bamboo in the jugular vein of cows and sucked the blood, adding that the animal was not killed for consumption since there is a ban on cow killing in the country.

Bhagwat’s statement is considered significant in the backdrop of outrage over cow slaughter and beef eating in the country after a man was lynched in Dadri, UP, for allegedly slaughtering a calf and storing its meat at his home.