REPORT
Hands
Off Dalits : Sonia Gandhi
 |
|
The
impressive turn out at the Dalit Chunauti rally at
Sultanpuri in New Delhi addresed by Congress President,
Smt. Sonia Gandhi
|
NEW
DELHI :
Launching a blistering attack on the BJP-led National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) Governments for its failure on all fronts,
the Congress President, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, warned that any
attempt to review the basic character of the Constitution
"will not be tolerated.
If
the BJP-led Union Government's proposal of reviewing the
Constitution harms the socio-economic and political interests
of Dalits, backwards and other poor sections of society,
the Congress and people will oppose it, she thundered amidst
applaud while addressing a mammoth "Dalit Chunauti
Rally" organised here on 19th
August to mark the birth anniversary of late Prime Minister,
Rajiv Gandhi.
She
demanded immediate withdrawal of some official orders issued
between 1997 and 1998 which have affected the promotion
chances of SC/ST Government employees of all categories.
Mrs.
Gandhi castigated the Union Government for being "steeped
in corruption resulting in a floundering economy" and
its "inept and ill-prepared handling of the Agra Summit".
In
her 15-minute impressive speech marked with repeated applaud,
Mrs. Gandhi pointed out "They always raised a question
mark of my husband being involved in corruption. But today
they themselves are neck deep in corruption."
Substantiating
her charge, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha said
while the Government of the day came to power on the slogan
of clean administration, "rampant corruption seems
to be the order of the day whether it is customs, Tehelka,
UTI or stock scams".
In
fact, the only contribution of the present Government was
to increase the level of corruption, she remarked sarcastically.
About
two crore middle class people who invested in various UTI
schemes have been ruined due to the scam, she said wondering
how could the government plead ignorance about this fraud?
She
also charged the Government for taking decisions without
application of mind and referred to in particular, the Agra
Summit and the northeast ceasefire in this context.
Referring
to the Agra fiasco, Mrs. Gandhi said the Government should
have been sensible enough to carry out proper groundwork
before finalising the summit meeting at the highest level
between Mr. A.B. Vajpayee and Pakistan president, Mr. Pervez
Musharraf. In fact, as a responsible Opposition, we also
gave our opinion on the issue but the Government did not
care, she remarked.
Referring
to the Naga ceasefire pact, the Congress chief opined had
the government tackled the ceasefire issue properly, the
violence in the Northeast would not have escalated.
"We
have repeatedly been saying the Government should do its
homework thoroughly and properly before taking such vital
decisions or also the end result would be failure",
she lamented.
Going
a step further, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi felt the NDA lacked will
and vision to address issues of importance and even seems
to be incapable of running day-to-day business of the administration.
Coming
back to the issue of uplifting Dalits and weaker sections,
Mrs. Gandhi recalled that it was her late husband who set
up the Panchayati Raj institution for their welfare and
also made a provision of 33 percent reservation for women
in this system of governance.
She
expressed her anguish over the increasing incidents of atrocities
against Dalits and flayed the Government for "hypocritical
show of sympathy and not taking any concrete steps to check
and prevent their recurrence.
Reiterating
her party's firm commitment towards the uplift of Dalits
and backward classes, Mrs. Gandhi declared she has instructed
eleven chief ministers of her party-ruled states to accord
priority to Dalit welfare and their overall developments.
In
this context, she pointed out the Delhi Government was soon
going to set up a rural development board.
-
Vinit Wahi
