Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak on Saturday assured a student delegation that he would take up their demands over “reservation reform” with the BJP central brass and arrange their meeting with a Union minister in the national capital over the issue.

The “reservation reform” movement, or Reservation Hatao Andolan, is currently being held at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, seeking a complete overhaul of the reservation system in the country, demanding that public education and employment quotas be solely to an income or economic criteria framework.

In a joint press conference with the delegation, Pathak said, “Our government is with each and every youth. We are committed to fulfilling the dreams of all of them. We will place their demands before the party’s central leadership. In the next two days, we will arrange a meeting of their delegation with a Union minister.”

Efforts would be made through dialogue for resolving the problems of students and their legitimate demands, he added.

A letter had also been received from the delegation, which would be conveyed to the central leadership, the Deputy CM said.

The letter read, “We believe that in the education system that exists at present, some children are very high in merit, while some children are very low. The main issue of our movement is that there should be equal development of intellectual ability among all students, so that equal opportunities can be available in further professional courses. For this, the number of opportunities should be increased, so that no student faces injustice and society benefits.”

Harsh Dubey, a student representative, said, “We are holding a peaceful protest. Our demand is that every youth of the country should get equal opportunities. We have been assured that a meeting would be arranged for us within two days.”