Jaipur, Jan 20 (IANS): Manmohan Vaidya, head of the RSS Communications Department, sparked off a row here saying that no reservation should continue for long and the reason for the poor socio-economic status of the Muslims is that a vast majority of them belong to economically backward states.

On the second day of the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), Manmohan Vaidya and Dattatreya Hosabale, RSS Joint General Secretary, were participating in a discussion on "Of Saffron and the Sangha", with journalist Pragya Tiwari.

The session was also attended by Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, among others.

"It has been widely held that no reservations should continue for too long as it begins to be taken for granted," Vaidya said.

"As for Muslims, we have seen that 68-70 per cent of the Muslims live in Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, which in themselves are very 'pichhre' (backward) regions. So their poor socio-economic status is well understood.

"These issues are to be addressed within the community. What is keeping them behind? This should be done for all communities, not just for one," Vaidya stressed.

Elaborating further, he said: "The subject of reservation has been there for SC/ST in a very different context. There should not be any reservation for any community for a long time.

"There should be more opportunities, more education for everyone, but instead it has been complete appeasement (of the minority community) and that is what has been seen."

It is for the first time that the RSS occupied a prominent place at the popular literature festival. It had drawn a flak on social media for this even before the festival began.

JLF producer Sanjoy Roy told IANS that it was done to "maintain balance" and to ensure that "the festival is open to all voices".