The advertisement was paid for by an Okhla-based food and beverages company (Representative Image) | Photo Credit: BCCL

Key Highlights The advertisement was paid for by one Okhla-based Brandavan Food Products Only applicants from 'Agarwal Vaish Community' should apply, says the classified A similar advertisement was paid for by a Chennai-based company in December 2018

New Delhi: A classified has sparked a political debate after the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) posted a picture of the same on the micro-blogging platform Twitter using its official handle. The advertisement in question spells out the requirement of male candidates in the restaurant business.

Posted by 'Brandavan Food Products', the advertisement says that the company is looking for 100 male candidates to fill the positions for 'Railway Food Plaza Manager', 'Train Catering Manager', 'Base Kitchen Manager' and 'Store Manager'. The brand also states that it is based out of Okhla in New Delhi.

Apart from saying that candidates who apply for the job should be prepared to work anywhere in India, the advertisement also mentions that applicants should belong to "Agarwal Vaish Community". They should have a good family background and intermediate (10+2) as the minimum education qualification in order to be able to apply for the job.

निजीकरण/आउटसोर्सिंग के बहाने आरक्षण खत्म किया जाता है और जातिगत आधार पर दूसरी तरह का रिवर्स आरक्षण शुरू हो जाता है!



ताकि "कुलीन, महापराक्रमी, विलक्षण प्रतिभा व बुध्दि के धनी, सर्वगुणसम्पन्न" श्रेष्ठ लोग "नीच" कुल में जन्मे लोगों के स्पर्श से गन्दे और पथभ्रष्ट ना हो जाएँ! pic.twitter.com/7I1BUksB3E — Rashtriya Janata Dal (@RJDforIndia) November 7, 2019

Lashing out at the nature of the advertisement, RJD's official Twitter handle says "Reservation is eliminated on the pretext of privatization and outsourcing. However, a different type of reverse-reservation is starting to take a hold on the basis of caste!" It further adds that "noble, great-minded, prodigal geniuses, rich with intellect and all-encompassing superior people do not wish to get dirty and misguided by the touch of people born in lowly clans".

After the advertisement surfaced, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) sacked the human resource personnel who posted it. A senior official of the IRCTC said, "Serious view is taken by the IRCTC and the contractor has been asked to refrain giving notice on caste lines but to recruit suitable persons belonging to any caste/creed/religion or region. It has been confirmed by the contractor to the IRCTC that the HR manager responsible for the advertisement has since been removed from the job."

After the incident, the private vendor sent a written apology to the IRCTC and called the advertisement a "clerical mistake". The apology read, "Two different advertisements were supposed to be placed -- one for recruitment of staff in trains and restaurant and another for our social welfare program. Due to clerical mistake this advertisement has been placed publicly...our objective was not to hurt anyone and to offer jobs to any specific community."

A similar incident had come to light in December of last year when a Chennai-based company landed into the soup after it paid for a casteist classified to be published in a newspaper. While the company later apologised, several outfits fighting against casteism in India slammed it for holding such an unacceptable mindset in the first place.

An interior design company, Acor had paid for an advertisement in this regard in a local newspaper that goes by the name of Adyar Talk. In its classified, the company said that it was looking for 'General Manager: Projects, Sales and Administration". In the section titled minimum experience, the advertisement said "(Brahmins Only)". After a picture of the ad went viral, social media users slammed the company for exhibiting such backward behaviour.

These instances come at a time when the entire country is witnessing a spike in cases of caste-related violence. In 2018, people from all walks of life took to the streets in various cities under the banner of 'Not in my Name', a protest triggered by discrimination against minorities and citizens hailing from 'lower-castes'.