Holding Prime Minister Narendra Modi responsible for the continuing atrocities against Dalits in North India, particularly in BJP-ruled States, BRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao said the BJP and Congress were treating Dalits as mere vote banks and did not take any concrete measures to empower them.
Speaking at Praja Ashirvada Sabha election rallies at Sathupally and Yellandu on Wednesday, Chandrashekhar Rao said he had designed the Dalit Bandhu scheme for Telangana after seeing the plight of Dalits across the country, especially the attacks on them in North Indian States. Since India attained independence, successive governments had not taken any measures to uplift the Dalit community.
“In North India, there are attacks on the Dalits every day. In Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and even the Prime Minister’s home State of Gujarat, attacks are going on against Dalits. Women are being raped. What is this plight? Are we a democratic country? Why this anarchy?” he asked.
The BRS chief recalled that he had initiated the Dalit Chaitanya Jyoti programme during his tenure as Siddipet MLA for empowerment of Dalits. The scheme was scaled up to initiate the Dalit Bandhu scheme to suit the contemporary needs of beneficiaries across the State. Under the scheme, the State government provides Rs 10 lakh as financial assistance to each Dalit family enabling them lead a dignified living. He also pointed out that the Dalit Bandhu scheme was being implemented despite not being a promise in the BRS election manifesto.
Hitting out at Modi and the BJP government at the Centre, the Chief Minister also criticised them for their ‘mad obsession’ with privatization of public sector undertakings (PSUs) and other government entities. “Everything is being privatised. From LIC to the railways and the airports, the Modi-government is on a privatisation spree. In the same madness, they wanted to privatise the power sector also. But in Telangana, we have kept it with the government,” he said.
He stated that the Modi-led government wanted to fix meters on agriculture pumpsets, but the BRS regime did not allow it despite losing Rs 5,000 crore per annum. “ “Being a farmer, I am aware of the farmers’ issues. The BRS government is committed to farmers’ welfare, come what may,” he said.
Chandrashekhar Rao cautioned the people of Khammam against voting for the Congress in the upcoming elections, terming it suicidal. He pointed out that Congress leaders were openly claiming to scrap the Dharani portal, restrict power supply and also stop schemes like Rythu Bandhu and Dalit Bandhu terming them as unnecessary expenditure.
Taking a dig at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, the Chief Minister said the Congress leader knew nothing about agriculture and was just reading out scripts written by someone else. He ridiculed Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s claims that the Congress government was giving five hours power to agriculture in Karnataka. “He should have some shame to make these claims in Telangana where farmers get 24-hour power supply,” he added.
