हिंदी
In last four and-a-half-years, Dalits suffered the most from government neglect
Chandigarh, July 31 2021
Terming the Captain government’s announcement of SC Welfare Act for the Scheduled Castes of the state as an ‘election stunt’, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) senior leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Harpal Singh Cheema said that the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government in its last days should not make a misleading attempt to woo the Dalits by introducing a SC Welfare Bill as the Dalits cannot forget the neglect, fraud, scams and breach of promises made to them in the last four and-a-half-years.
In a statement issued from the party headquarters here on Saturday, Harpal Singh Cheema said the ‘Election Welfare Bill’ of the ruling Congress was in fact a failed attempt to squander crores of rupees of scholarships for lakhs of Dalit students and quell public anger over breach of promises. He said by announcing the enactment of the new law, Captain Amarinder Singh had accepted that in the last four-and-a-half-years, his government had not brought any economic and social development for the Dalits; but had used them as mere vote banks.
The LoP further said if the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had been really serious about the Dalits, he would have kept special funds for the Dalits in the total five budgets presented earlier; but now with the elections looming, Captain Amarinder Singh was trying to fool the Dalits. Cheema said the reality was that by the time of the next budget of 2022, the Congress government would be ousted from the state.
Cheema alleged Captain Amarinder Singh had not fulfilled any of the promises made to the Dalit community during the 2017 elections and as a result, the Dalit families had not received Rs 51,000 from the Shagun scheme, 5 marlas plot and pension of Rs 25,000 to the elderly in the last four and-a-half-years. The AAP leader said Captain Amarinder Singh had falsely robbed the rights of the Dalits. “The government has abolished the jobs of Dalits and sold their sources of income every time. Even now the Captain government has snatched jobs of lakhs of Dalits in the name of restructuring government departments and also the power subsidy given to the Dalits through the recommendations of the Montek Singh Ahluwalia Committee,” he added.
