Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Joint Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on Saturday sought to distance the Sangh from its publicity chief Manmohan Vaidya’s remarks on reservation policy. Speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival on Friday, Vaidya had said there should be a time limit to the continuity of reservation policy.

However, on Saturday, Hosabale said Vaidya’s comments were his personal views and the RSS does not agree with it. “The Sangh is of the view that the reservation provided to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribe and the Other Backward Classes by the Constitution should continue,” Hosabale said in a video posted by the RSS Twitter handle. “The reservations are still necessary and they should be implemented fully,” he said.

Vaidya had said that reservation was introduced in a different context. “It was provided for in the Constitution to remedy the historical injustice done to them,” he said according to The Times of India. “But, even Ambedkar has said its continuance in perpetuity is not good. There should be a time limit to it,” he added. Vaidya said if reservation was continued forever, it will promote sectarianism.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Saturday said Vaidya’s remarks exposed the Bharatiya Janata Party and RSS’ double standards and casteist mentality, PTI reported. The Congress, too, slammed his remarks and said that the BJP and the RSS leaders regularly made such calls “before elections to polarise voters and garner votes on caste lines”, IANS reported.