Bihar's double engine govt has all but given up on proposed 65% reservation: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday reiterated its demand of making the Bihar reservations law a part of the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, amending the Constitution to overcome the 50 per cent ceiling for reservations and implementing Article 15(5) which enables reservations for SCs, STs, OBCs, and EBCs in private educational institutions.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said most definitely the party will take up these three issues of fundamental importance to social justice and empowerment in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament.

"The PM is in Bihar today. On the basis of the caste survey conducted by the erstwhile INDIA bloc Government in Bihar, the Bihar Government had proposed 65% reservation for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, OBCs, and EBCs. This is under challenge in the Courts," Ramesh said on X.

The double engine government in Bihar has all but given up, he said.But there are three ways out, that the Congress has been demanding for long, that will make the 65 per cent reservations a reality, he said.

Ramesh called for making the Bihar reservations law a part of the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.

This was done by the Narasimha Rao government in 1994 for protecting 69 per cent reservations in Tamil Nadu, he said.

He also called for amending the Constitution to overcome the 50 per cent ceiling for reservations for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, OBCs, and EBCs.

This ceiling has only been imposed because of various Supreme Court judgments over the past six decades, Ramesh said.

"Article 15(5) enables reservations for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, OBCs, and EBCs in private educational institutions also. This has been unimplemented in the past 11 years after the Supreme Court had upheld the Constitutional amendment that was introduced by Dr. Mannohan Singh's government in 2006," he said.

Most definitely the Congress will take up these three issues of fundamental importance to social justice and empowerment in the Monsoon session of Parliament that begins on July 21, Ramesh said.

His remarks came ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three-state visit for two days from Friday, a tour that will include the launch of multiple development projects in Bihar and Odisha and his participating in a mass yoga programme on the International Day of Yoga.

Modi will be in Siwan in Bihar and Bhubaneswar in Odisha on Friday and will also address public meetings, an official statement said.

In Siwan, he will inaugurate the new Vaishali-Deoria railway line project worth more than Rs 400 crore and flag off a new train service on the route.

The Congress has also been demanding removal of the 50 per cent ceiling on reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), a nationwide caste census and the implementation of Article 15(5). It has even passed resolutions at Congress Working Committee meetings, expressing these demands.