If Lalu has been booked for casteist remark, so should Giriraj Singh: PL Punia

Punia also said that the caste politics, which is ruling the Bihar elections is unfortunate and all leaders indulging in making statements related to castes should be booked. Referring to the FIR filed against Lalu Yadav in Vaishali in Bihar over his casteist remarks describing the Bihar polls as a “fight between the forward and backward classes”, Punia said, politicians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi have used the caste card to their political advantage. Punia said, “Everyone has heard what Lalu Prasad said. We also know what Giriraj Singh said about not allowing any upper caste person to become the Chief Minister of Bihar. In the Lok Sabha polls, on several occasions during his campaign, Narendra Modi called himself a Dalit and a person from the ‘picchda varg’. What is the need to play the caste card? If Lalu has been booked in Bihar, so should Giriraj Singh.”

Punia said that the Patidar agitation for OBC reservation in Gujarat needed to be examined by the State Commission for reservations on the parameters laid down by the Supreme Court and should the report state that the community needs reservation, it should be granted to them. “I do not agree with the agitation before a report is prepared after the ground analysis of their situation. The scheduled castes have evident problems like infant mortality, malnutrition, maternal mortality rate and lack of land ownerships. If the demand of the Patidar community meets the parameters then the state government must consider their case. But any agitation between castes over reservations is bound to ruffle the social fabric.”

Punia said that the decision of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government to cut down on the grant for scheduled castes by Rs 20000 crores in the annual budget has a great impact on the development. Punia said, “The government has cut back the grant by Rs 20000 crores. As it is, since 1979, regardless of the party in power, the grant meant for the Schedule class sanction has been misused by directing it towards other projects of the governments instead of the actual development of the communities. So, we are demanding a law to keep tabs on how the grant is expended by governments for specific communities, it is intended for.”

Punia also stressed that the Gujarat government must ensure regular employment and group insurance under the government schemes for the sanitation staff belonging to the Valmiki community, who have complained about lack of regularization despite working for 720 days, lack of homes and non implementation of schemes being announced for them. Punia also stated that the scheduled castes must have reservation in the private sector. Punia said, “The term private sector is a misnomer. All sectors are public centers as they get public sector loans. We want reservation from private sectors as they deny employment to deserving persons from reserved categories.”