BJP came with clarification on their commitment towards maintaining the SC/ST reservations. Putting to fore the Pro- Dalit character of Sangh Parivar by highlighting the close association of Hindutwa ideologue Dattopant Thengadi with Babasaheb Ambedkar, BJP brought everyone’s attention towards PM Modi’s thrust on the construction of toilets which helped in eradicating manual scavenging up to an extent. The depressed classes were made to carry the night soil manually and it in the deep pits.
Senior party leader and Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi said that it was BJP which amended the SC/ST law in 2016 and brought 47 offences under its ambit from the previous 24. While addressing a workshop of party’s Scheduled Caste wing, he promised that BJP would not allow scrapping of reservations at “any cost”.The Deputy CM also reminded that quotas in promotions were introduced by the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Various SC/ST welfare schemes by the BJP government also surfaced in his speech.
See also:Not ‘grand Opposition alliance’ but ‘personal survival’ to remove me says PM Modi
BJP’s national spokesman Bizay Sonkar Shastri said,”The BJP will not allow the scrapping of reservations or the dilution of the SC/ST Act at any cost. Rumours to this effect are being spread by the opposition out of desperation”.
Shastri said that it was the first time that the country had a government that was sensitive to issues concerning Dalits like manual scavenging and the inabiliy of lower castes to avail banking services. He added that Narendra Modi government had introduced schemes to address those problems which the Congress had ignored for years.
He said, “Reservations were introduced by virtue of Ambedkar’s vision. Today, even if Ambedkar himself reincarnates and tries to scrap reservations, he cannot do that. All the allegations about the BJP-RSS making such plans are lies,” Shastri alleged.
National Spokesperson of BJP warned Dalits against a sinister campaign which branded them outside the Hindu fold. While agreeing the fact that the Hindus who were victims of
untouchability had been assigned with the status Scheduled Castes, he asked Dalits to not turn their face against the efforts that were on to set right the historical wrongs.
He exhorted that Dalits must not be fooled by those who were
interested only in getting their votes.
Post Your Comments