The National Scheduled Castes Alliance, a socio-political organisation, today slammed the Amarinder Singh-led Congress government in Punjab for its alleged "anti-scheduled castes" stance.
Along with the ruling party, it also criticised other political parties such as the BJP, SAD and AAP for "playing with the emotions and dreams of the scheduled castes community".
"The Congress government has failed to take steps to prevent atrocities against the members of the scheduled caste community. It is a trend which never seems to end... The SCs are wooed by fake promises of development and socio-economic justice before an election for their crucial votes. But in reality, these parties are more like the enemy than the friend of the scheduled castes community," Paramjit Singh Kainth, the president of the organisation, said.
This social segregation of the scheduled castes in Punjab, deliberately done by the government, had been evident from recent incidents -- a case in Faridkot where an SC teacher accused the chairman of an Adarsh school of rape and a murder of a person of the scheduled castes community in over a 'shamlat" (common) land dispute in Sangrur -- he added.
None of these cases had seriously been taken by the police, which is directly under the control of the state government, Kainth alleged.
"Just like the previous SAD-BJP regime, the Congress government is deliberately trying to suppress the scheduled castes community and protect the rich and powerful," he said.
The home ministry is under the chief minister and it was a matter of shame that incidents like these were not dealt with proper caution and justice was not meted out at the earliest, Kainth added.
"Other parties like the Aam Aadmi Party and the SAD-BJP combine have only played with the emotions and dreams of the scheduled castes community," he said.
His organisation was planning to launch a campaign to "ignite a sense of social responsibility" among the politicians, Kainth added.
"MLAs and MPs, along with the other leaders of the scheduled castes community will be held accountable for their greed and disregard towards providing justice and welfare to the community," he said.
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