New Delhi, December 13 (). The first meeting of the SC Advisory Council of the Congress Party was held. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge participated in this and also addressed the meeting. During this, he also gave a strict pledge to the people to eliminate discrimination.
Addressing the meeting, the Congress President said that Congress took a strong pledge to eradicate the discrimination prevalent in the society even before independence. The party says that it is the responsibility of the state to bring equality in the society and two major laws were made for that purpose.
He referred to the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and said that it made untouchability and all its forms a punishable offence. Along with this, while referring to the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, he said that Rajiv Gandhi’s government made it. This law said for the first time that atrocities on Dalits is not just a crime, it is an attack on social justice.
He said that later Congress governments strengthened it further, such as banning anticipatory bail for the accused, speedy investigation, more compensation, and special courts for victims.
Describing education as the biggest weapon of Dalit empowerment, Kharge said that Congress believed that education is the path to social equality, hence we started Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme, Pre-Matric Scholarship, Hostels for SC boys and girls, and Top Class Education Scheme. Along with this, programs like reservation for SCs in IIT-IIM and medical colleges, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, mid-day meal, and RTE, due to which the school attendance of Dalit children increased rapidly.
He further said that today there are lakhs of SC doctors, engineers, teachers, officers and entrepreneurs in the country and their journey started with these policies.
He also said that those who raised the voice of Dalits have been attacked. Be it the Rohith Vemula issue, the action after Bhima-Koregaon, or the discrimination against Dalit students in universities, the government has tried to suppress the Dalit voice everywhere.
The Congress President said that the rights given by the Constitution are being taken away. Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar had said, “The measure of progress of a society is how safe its weakest person is.”
He said that today the situation has been reversed. The ongoing policies to weaken reservation, the cutting of Dalit jobs through privatization, the decline in SC/ST faculty recruitment in universities, prove that the government is weakening the Constitution which has social justice at its foundation.
He said that Manuwadi mentality is being promoted. This is the same government that sometimes in its documents, speeches and policies promotes thinking that justifies discrimination, not equality. We will not let this happen. We will not allow Baba Saheb’s Constitution to be weakened at any cost!
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AMT/DKP
