NDA to milk schemes for backwards

Patna: The NDA in Bihar is out to take mileage out of the two moves of the Narendra Modi government aiming to help people hailing from backward and SC/ST communities. Two of the alliance constituents – the LJP and the BJP – will hold programmes to spread the word about these.

The first move deals with according constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes, while the second deals with restoring the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act to its original form to nullify a decision of the Supreme Court delivered earlier this year which had diluted some of the provisions of the Act, including the one dealing with arrest of those charged with atrocities against the people from SC/ST communities. Bills in this regard were passed during the monsoon session of the Parliament.

The Ram Vilas Paswan-led LJP will organise a thanksgiving programme in Patna on August 12. “People from the SC/ST communities and those from backward classes have been invited to the August 12 programme through which our party would thank the central government for taking steps to protect the rights of the deprived sections of the society,” LJP spokesperson Ashraf Ansari told The Telegraph on Friday.

The event has been organised under the joint banner of the LJP and Dalit Sena, an outfit led by Paswan’s brother, Ramchandra Paswan.

In case of BJP, the backward class Morcha and SC/ST morcha of the party will organise the event in Patna on August 17.

Backward-class morcha state unit president Jainath Chouhan told The Telegraph: “Morcha national president Dara Singh Chouhan will take part in the function. Senior party leaders, including deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and our state unit president Nityanand Rai, too will address the participants in this event.”

Though the organisers are maintaining that these are thanksgiving gestures, those who know the caste realities of Bihar have no qualms in accepting the fact that NDA wants to take political mileage out of these ahead of the general election.

“Caste is a reality of Bihar politics and if our central government has done something for the deprived sections of society, what is wrong in trying to mobilise these communities in the NDA’s support,” said a senior NDA leader.

Courtesy: The Telegraph