SCs in J&K got justice under Modi govt: Dr Bhola Singh

Member of Parliament & BJP SC Morcha National General Secretary, Dr. Bhola Singh, during his one-day visit to Jammu, chaired a meeting of J&K SC Morcha office bearers and senior leaders at Trikuta Nagar office. This meeting was convened by SC Morcha President & former MLA Neelam Langeh.

In this meeting, the ongoing programmes of the morcha were reviewed and future course of action discussed for maximum outreach in areas housing the population of scheduled caste community.

Dr. Bhola Singh, while addressing the meeting, said that SCs across the country had been exploited for vote bank politics by Congress and other political parties and in J&K too this community remained discriminated for decades together. He said that refugees from West Pakistan, 70% of whom are SCs, were not granted citizenship rights for seventy years.  There was no  reservation in the state assembly  and after long struggle and agitations it was implemented in 1971, while in other states, it was adopted from the day the Indian constitution came into force. He also expressed surprise that the SCs were not issued permanent caste certificates and had to obtain new ones after every 12-15 years under the new SRO.  

Dr. Bhola Singh said that after the abrogation of Article-370 by Narendra Modi government, the refugees get citizenship rights, practice of separate caste certificates has been stopped and various schemes launched for the socio-economic upliftment of this class have reached their doorsteps  and  transformed their lives.

“Under Modi government the SCs in J&K have got much awaited justice”, he said and added that the union government’s principle of ‘sabka saath sabka vikas sabka vishwas’ is visible in reality on ground as every section and class is taken care and included in welfare schemes.

SC Morcha president, Neelam Langeh, in his address, said that PM Narendra Modi has come to be the real well-wisher of SCs as for the first time a government has shown real concern for the betterment of SCs. An era of uncertainty and discrimination has come to an end and a new dawn full of hopes and progress entered their lives. He said that various central laws and schemes stand extended to J&K after the abrogation of Article 370. Today there is no need of obtaining separate caste certificates for jobs under state and union governments, which was harassment for SCs in J&K in the past.

DDC Chairman Bharat Bhushan  spoke on the pro-SC, pro-poor schemes of the Modi government and said that during the last nine years the SCs have been among the top beneficiaries.

Former MLAs Dr. Krishan Lal Bhagat and Kuldeep Kumar, SC Morcha Prabhari Jagdish Bhagat, former VC Balbir Ram Rattan, Morcha vice president Vijay Anand Gill, Morcha seh-prabhari Jeet Angral, shared dais with the visiting MP.

Morcha general secretary Adarsh Jethiar presented a vote of thanks and another general secretary Gulshan Bhagat conducted proceedings of the meeting.