By Ravindra Saini
As a part of statewide SC (Schedule Caste) sammelans, the Uttaranchal unit of Bharatiya Janata Party organised a sammelan (meet) at Vikas Nagar in Dehradun recently. Shri Sangh Priya Gautam, the senior BJP leader, while speaking as chief guest said that the BJP was the only party that had been working for the uplift of the weaker sections of the society. ?The downtrodden, SCs, STs and backward classes have found a respectable place only in the BJP and they have realised that the BJP is their only well-wisher,? he added. He called upon the party workers to pay proper attention to education of children who were deprived of this basic necessity, so that they could play a significant role in nation building.
Shri Matbar Singh Kandari, Leader of Opposition, said that BJP MLA'sshould spend 20 per cent of their MLA fund in Dalit areas of the state. Shri Sahadev Pundir, district president, said that the Congress had always cheated the SCs/STs and backward classes. ?The Congress uses charming words only at the time of election to attract people. It has no plans to uplift the people belonging to SCs/STs and other backward classes,? he added.
Shri Jagat Ram, district president of the ST/SC wing, accused the state government of deliberately ignoring the welfare of the Dalits and other weaker sections of the society. He alleged that atrocities on Dalits had increased under the Congress rule. Shri Romy Bajaj, the Mandal general secretary, pointed out that such meetings were being organised by the party in all the 70 constituencies to highlight the plight of SCs/STs and backward classes under Congress rule. Shri Suresh Rathore, state president of SC wing stressed the need to introduce 25 per cent reservation in private schools of Uttaranchal along with a 25 per cent rebate in the fees for Dalit students.
