Chief Minister and DMK president M.K. Stalin on Tuesday alleged that the BJP was against social justice because it did not like the progress of the poor, the SCs/STs and the OBCs.
Delivering a virtual address at the second national conference on India for Social Justice, Mr. Stalin said, “While we are fighting for social justice, there are obstacles, and the BJP is creating them in a big way.”
“The BJP never implemented social justice properly. It failed to implement 27% reservation [for the OBCs] in the past nine years,” he said.
Recalling RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s assertion that there will be communal reservation till there is [caste] discrimination, Mr. Stalin wondered where the RSS was when the BJP toppled the government led by V.P. Singh over the issue of implementing the recommendations of the Mandal Commission.
“It was the RSS that pulled the strings behind the screen and allowed the BJP to topple the V.P. Singh government. Mohan Bhagwat has spoken in favour of reservation only to hoodwink the people on the margins since the Lok Sabha elections are approaching. He is not truly committed to reservation,” Mr. Stalin alleged.
He said if the BJP was really interested in social justice, it should have implemented the 27% reservation and filled vacancies in Central government departments as per the quota. “Is the BJP ready to do it,” he asked.
Mr. Stalin reiterated that social justice was not confined to a particular State, but was a pan-Indian issue when the BJP was in power. “The yardstick for enumerating caste and communities may differ from State to State. Tamil Nadu follows 69% reservation. Even though the percentage varies in other States, the problem facing reservation is the same everywhere, and it is neglect,” he said.
Mr. Stalin said social justice was an antidote to the neglect of reservation, and wherever untouchability, slavery and injustice prevailed. “The reservation for the SCs/STs should be implemented in a proper manner, and there should be proper reservation for the BCs and the MBCs. The implementation of reservation should be monitored at the national level,” he said.
The Chief Minister also urged the Centre to amend the Constitution to ensure that SC, ST, OBC, women and minority candidates were appointed as judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court. “Candidates of OBCs should be given reservation in promotion and seniority in jobs,” he said, and demanded the release of the caste census done in 2015, and reservation in the private sector.
Mr. Stalin said the right to fix and implement reservation should be vested with State governments. “We follow 69% reservation in Tamil Nadu. In other States, reservation should be followed depending on local requirements,” he said.
