Congress leader and former BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) MP from North West Delhi Udit Raj on Sunday alleged that the Constitution was under threat and a mass movement was needed to protect it, else the reservation for the underprivileged will “remain just on paper”.
Addressing a national rally at Ramlila Maidan, the national chairman of the ‘All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations’ said that one of the main demand to hold this rally to highlight the need to structural changes in higher judiciary.
“The judiciary is extra constitutional authority and has hardly connected with the constitution now. In 1993, a bench of Supreme Court gave a judgment saying that judges should be appointed by judges themselves,” he said.
Raj also raised the issues of privatisation, unemployment and EVM (Electronic Voting Machine) tampering.”Our Constitution is under threat, democracy is under threat and if we do not get our act together, this reservation will also just remain on paper... This movement we have heralded today should be taken to all the states and districts if we want to save our Constitution, save reservation,” he said.
Demanding reservation for socially backward and poor people in higher judiciary, Raj said “It has been continuously witnessed that most of the prisoners are from SC/ST/OBCs, minorities and poor. India is a nation of diversity and where caste system prevalent and hence the structure of higher judiciary should reflect it,” he added.
Attacking at the economic policy of the centre, he said that the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the country has gone down to 4.5 per cent. Even this is over estimated as the actual GDP is around 1.5 per cent, he added.
Alleging the centre to cut down government jobs to benefit private companies, Raj said that since 2014, there has been deliberate halt in recruitment in government departments, PSUs (Public Sector Units) and educational institutions. The intention is very clear. The government motive is to provide benefit the big corporate houses, he said.
“This is a design of Manuwadi forces to conspire to deprive Bahujans from intellectual and economic empowerment. We will oppose truth and nail the privatization of Railway, ONGC, Shipping Corporation, BHEL, NTPC, BEML, SAIL, LIC, and other banks among others, he said, adding that on one hand we are vehemently opposing the privatization and on other hand we seek reservation in private sector.
Raj said that it was promised to provide two crore jobs yearly but instead of providing jobs, approximately the same number of jobs were snatched away. ‘In the period of 2016-18, about 50 lakh youths were rendered jobless. Many of them were forced to commit suicide,” he said.
He also thanked to Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, national president of Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) and others who extended their moral support for this massive rally against privatization and unemployment.
Raj quit the BJP earlier this year after being denied a ticket to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.