BJP Opposes SC Benefits to Converted Dalit Christians & Muslims
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, May 4: At a time when the B S Yeddyurappa’s BJP government in Karnataka is rocked by the controversy over the alleged rape charges against the state’s food and civil supplies minister Hartalu Halappa, who had to quit over the issue, the party’s national spokesman Ramanath Kovind visited Bangalore to threaten a nation-wide agitation if the UPA government went ahead with the recommendations of the Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission on grant of the benefits of reservation to the converted Dalit Christians and Muslims by including them in the list of Scheduled Castes.
Kovind, who addressed a news conference in Bangalore on Tuesday, declined to comment on the Halappa sex scandal and merely said that the Yeddyurappa government will take appropriate action after the completion of the CID investigation report. ``Action would be taken on the basis of the report after studying it,” he said declining to comment on why the government was dilly-dallying on arresting the former minister even after the registeration of a serious complaint of rape.
On persistent queries, the BJP national spokesman said the BJP government in the state had taken prompt action in asking the minister to resign and accepting it within hours of publication of a report in a newspaper. ``Have any Congress governments in any state taken such prompt action?,” he asked.
The BJP national spokesman demanded that the party would be launching a nation-wide agitation if the UPA government refused to reject the Ranganath Mishra commission report and granted SC benefits to Dalit Christians and Muslims.
The commission’s recommendation for inclusion of convert Dalit Christians and Muslims in the SC list in addition to the 15 % reservation to minorities under backward class quota in education, government jobs and social welfare schemes was totally unjustified.
The converts would also be eligible for political reservation in elections, thus reducing opportunities for the Hindu Dalits as they have to share their reservation facilities with convert Dalits, he said claiming that the educational level of convert Dalit Christians and Muslims was higher than the Hindu Dalits.
He said the recommendations of the Commission, if accepted, would on accentuate the The backwardness of Hindu Dalits and encourage conversions leading to the destruction of social fabric.
The BJP leader pointed out that various SC bodies including the National Scheduled Castes and Tribes Commission had rejected the demand for inclusion of convert Christians and Muslims in the SC list. Even the Supreme Court through its various judgements was of the opinion that convert Dalit Christians and Muslims cannot be equated with SCs, he said.
To a question of National SC Commission chairman Buta Singh’s criticism that grave injustice had been done to SCs in the state, Kovind said the commission was visiting only non-Congress ruled states in order to tarnish their image. ``If the Commission says so, let the state government study (suggestions) and make amends,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee Scheduled Castes Cell Chairman and former MLC, N Manjunath, at a separate news conference, lambasted Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa for his failure to re-constitute the high level committee under his chairmanship to monitor the cases of atrocities on scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
Manjunath accused the BJP government of not being serious about the constitutional mandate to have this committee to reduce atrocities on Dalits and implement welfare measures to uplift them from poverty and ignorance. The Yeddyurappa regime has shown its utter neglect and callousness to the cause of Dalits by not holding even a single meeting of the high level committee on protecting the rights and interests of scheduled castes headed by him, which was enough to prove the government’s commitment to protecting the Dalits.
The Congress leader urged the state government to fill the backlog posts reserved for SCs and release funds allocated in his budget, meant for their welfare without delay.
He demanded constitution of a high level monitoring committee to look into all these issues. He felt the monthly payment of Rs 650 and Rs 450 for a Dalit inmate in a scheduled caste hostel, run by the Government and private organisations, respectively, which was insufficient when neighbouring Andhra Pradesh a sum of Rs 1,000 per student per month.