Why the RSS supports reservation

As an individual, I have been associated with the RSS, ABVP and BJP for more than 40 years. From the controversy over the renaming of Marathwada University in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar to the vexed issue of quota for the underprivileged, from the 1982-83 movement led by Bal Thackeray against Babasaheb Ambedkar’s writings in The Riddle of Rama and Krishna and the RSS’s vocal opposition to that movement, I have witnessed how the Sangh leadership had adroitly handled scores of issues with a firm commitment to its total opposition to caste-based discrimination. However, the overarching philosophy guiding the RSS’s approach to all these vexed issues associated with the caste question is that of samajik samarasata or social harmony. In the RSS scheme of things, the term adds significant value to the idea of social equality. It is about a sense of belonging, about making every social group feel that the entire society needs every marginalised group and values its contribution.