Bihar polls: Upping the ante, Congress lists five 'anti-backward caste steps' of Modi government

Upping the ante ahead of first phase of crucial elections in Bihar on October 12, and realising that BJP was banking on a combination of upper case and Dalits, the Congress on Thursday accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi of systematically withdrawing or slashing the schemes meant for SCs, STs and OBCs.

Congress chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala listed five 'anti-Dalit, anti-ST and anti-OBC policy decisions' of the Modi government at the Centre and linked them to the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's pitch for a review of reservation.

According to the Congress, these anti-Dalit steps included (1) budgetary cuts of Rs 19,734 crore in 2015-16 budget in welfare schemes for SCs under Scheduled Castes sub-plan and Rs 12,406 crore cut in the Scheduled Tribes sub-plan compared to the previous year, (2) only 0.23% (Rs 73.70 crore) allocation for women under SC sub-plan and just 0.20% (Rs 40 crore) in ST sub-plan, and (3) deliberate cuts in SC/ST education allocations and even funds for post-matric scholarship to SCs/STs cut from Rs 1904.78 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 1599 crore in 2015-16.

Similarly, Surjewala said the Modi government deliberately allowed lapse of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Amendment Act, 2014, brought by the UPA government while it just abolished the backward region grant fund for 250 backward districts, including special provisions for Bihar, Odisha and J&K, in the 2015-16 budget altogether. The fund was created in 2007 by the Manmohan Singh government to help the deprived sections of society in these districts.

As regards Modi's anti-dalit and anti-ST credentials as the chief minister, the Congress chief spokesman rattled out eight instances, starting with a compilation of his speeches in a book titled "Karamyog" in which he hails the scavenging job of "Valmikis" as destined by the God.

Modi is quoted in the book stating that "at some point of time, somebody must have got the enlightenment that it is their (Valmiki's) duty to work for the happiness of the entire society and the gods; that they would have to do this job bestowed upon them by gods; and that this job of cleaning up could continue as an unintentional spiritual activity for centuries."

Again on April 30, 2010, Modi drew parallels between "mentally retarded children" and "Dalits" while releasing a book titled "Samajik Samrasta," saying people give special treatment to such children when they visit their homes and Dalits ought to be treated the same way.

Modi was the chairman of the committee for SC and ST sub-plans in Gujarat as the CM but he never held a single meeting of the committee during ten years of his tenure, showing his anti-Dalit and anti-ST mindset.

The Planning Commission that Modi abolished on taking the reins at the Centre had stipulated earmarking a percentage of the state budget proportionate to the SC populaion. Surjewala said Gujarat has 14% SC population but budget for SCs during the Modi regime never exceeded 5.42%.

There was a huge backlog of 27,900 vacancies meant for SCs and STs in Gujarat until Modi demitted the office as the CM. Despite the SC reservation in Panchayats under the Constitution amendment, the Gujarat government did not provide reservation to SCs in as many as 600 villages in the 2012 Panchayati Raj elections.

Lakhs of Dalis were denied the job opportunities by abolishing the district-wise reservation and making the state as the unit for implementation of the reservation policy. As many as 2.5 lakh persons were appointed on fixed salary on 11-month contracts with no reservation, no job or social security as such.