Weaker sections being ignored by BJP, says Bhalla

Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 30

Senior Congress leader and former minister Raman Bhalla on Thursday charged the BJP with pursuing anti-weaker section policies. He said the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) were the worst victims of the oppressive means adopted by the saffron party to remain in power.

Addressing a series of public meetings at Dharap village of the Gandhi Nagar Assembly segment as part of the programme to reach out to the people at the grass-roots level, Bhalla said during the Congress tenure from 2002 to 2014, various steps had been taken for the uplift of the weaker sections, especially the SCs and OBCs.

He said it was all due to the efforts of Congress leaders that the Advisory Board for the Welfare of OBCs was constituted for the first time in J&K. He said hostels were also constructed for OBCs students across J&K.

The Congress leader said the BJP’s anti-weaker section mindset could be gauged from the fact that for the first time in the history not even a single OBC member was made a member of the J&K Commission for Backward Classes. He said it was a cruel joke with the weaker sections, especially the OBCs.

“Due to the caste prejudice, the incumbent BJP leadership has betrayed the OBCs of J&K as there is no provision in the Bill passed by Parliament to extend reservation benefits for our community in the newly formed UT,” he said.

Quoting para 7 of page 44 and serial No. 21 of page 52 of the Bill passed in Parliament for the abrogation of Article 370, Bhalla said due share to the OBCs had been stopped in J&K in the new system.