The dalit state employees agitating for the restoration of the facility of reservation in promotion will have given a call for a rally at Ramlila Maidan Delhi on December 7. The rally has been organized to drum up support and mount pressure on the BJP led NDA government at the Center for the passage of the Constitution (117th amendment) bill 2014 pending in the lOk Sabha.
The convener of the Arakshan Bachao Sanghrash Samiti Avadesh Verma said here on Tuesday that several lakh supporters of reservation in promotion from several parts of the country will participate in the rally in Delhi. The Supreme Court in April 2013 had quashed the reservation in
Promotion for the schedule caste employees. The Supreme Court had fixed September 15, as the last date for the compliance of the order. The state government had demoted over 15,000 schedule caste officers and employees who had benefited from the policy of reservation in promotion. Following the court order the then UPA government had introduced the Constitution (117th) amendment bill in parliament. The bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha in early 2014 and is now pending in the lo Sabha. For over a year the dalit organizations have been demanding the passage of the pending legislation from the lok Sabha. The rally in Delhi on December 7 has the tacit support of the BJP. Udit Raj, BJP MP from Delhi (North West) addressing a meeting of the dalit officers and employees here on November 8 had given a call for the rally in Delhi. Udit Raj, also the chairman of All Indian Confederation of Schedule caste and schedule tribe organizations had asked the dalit employees to take to the streets of Delhi for realising their demand.
“The battle for reservation in promotion is not to be fought in lucknow. This battle is to be fought in Delhi. Shun the habit of looking towards your MPs and MlAs, mobalise the strength of dalit samaj and fill the streets of Delhi. The political parties are scared of voters and they will bow before you if you have the capacity to demonstrate the united strength of the dalit Samaj and then they will readily agree to pass the `Constitution (117th amendment) Bill 2013’ from the lok Sabha ’, the BJP MP had said.
The BJP MP had also urged the anti reservationists to see reason in the demand of reservation in promotion and drop their agitation against their demand. The BJP MP had said that the southern states were first to implement reservation for dalit s and they have surged ahead in all sphere of development be it social or physical parameters. The northern state continues to lag behind in development because reservation in these states was implemented much later and yet sentiments against reservation are still strong in these states. In 1936 following the Poona pact dalits got reservation in political institutions like state legislative councils and in national assembly and in 1943 they got reservation in government services in south India and that region of the country has developed.