How do you view the demand for extending reservation to the private sector?

It has been a long-standing demand of the people belonging to the marginalised sections. Atal Bihari Vajpayee had spoken strongly in favour of implementing reservation for SC/STs in the private sector in the early 2000s. Our party [Republican Party of India (A)] has been demanding reservation in the private sector for many years. It is needed because many public sector enterprises have been privatised. Even within government departments, we come across instances of jobs being outsourced to the private sector. In such a situation, the government should heed the demand for extending reservation to the private sector.

Have you taken up this issue within the government?

I have raised this issue many times in the Rajya Sabha. I have discussed it with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A parliamentary committee is set to discuss the issue. All Ministers and MPs belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Tribes should meet the Prime Minister together to convey our views on the issue.

A claim made by those demanding reservation is that the privatisation of public sector companies has picked up speed under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

Disinvestment of public sector companies has been a policy followed by successive governments over the last three decades. However, since the policy was first implemented when the Congress was in power in the 1990s, the party should have gone into its ramifications with regard to employment and reservation, and taken some decisions on how SC/STs benefiting from the reservation policy could be protected. At that time, the Congress did not do anything.

Rahul Gandhi is talking about the rights of SC/STs and OBCs, about caste census and social justice. He should be asked why his party, when it ushered in privatisation of public sector enterprises, did not take any decision to safeguard the rights of marginalised sections.

India Inc. has in the past resisted the idea of introducing a quota system in recruitments in the private sector. How can they be brought on board on this issue?

The industry is our partner in growth. I am confident they will be on the same page as us on the need to take affirmative action in the private sector to ensure that the gains made through reservation for SC/STs are sustained. A proposal that has been discussed earlier, too, is about making it legally binding for the private sector to reserve jobs for the marginalised sections. The government can consider the option. Although it is an unrelated matter, the NDA government, by doing away with Article 370, introduced reservation for certain marginalised communities in Jammu and Kashmir.

An argument made by the private sector is that since it operates in a highly competitive environment with focus on productivity, introducing reservation in recruitment is not a feasible idea.

It is a faulty argument. Our candidates have proved their capabilities in the government sector. The industries can learn something from the experience of reservation in the public sector. Merit does not depend on caste.