SHILLONG:
All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday said the party is ready to support the presidential candidate of the BJP-led NDA government if atrocities against ST community are put to an end.
“Let them (BJP) come out on record and say all 90 per cent of the ST cases will come down to zero. I have the highest regard for Droupadi Murmu and her political legacy. Let her come and say after being elected to the president’s office, the SC/ST scholarship will not be reduced and states like
Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh which are topping the charts when it comes to atrocities on ST women and ST community will have zero cases next year onwards,” Abhishek told reporters here.
“Let her come and say I will open my mouth and not pay heed to what the government or the prime minister or home minister thinks and will not act as a subservient to the government and will make the government accountable and make sure the government operates within the ambit of the Constitution, I will work as true custodian of the Constitution, we will support her,” he said.
Murmu is an indigenous tribal woman.
Stating that the AITC does not believe in token presentation, Abhishek said that his party will not support something that is unethical.
“We had an SC president for the last five years. Have you seen the president of the country utter a word? A president of the country who belongs to the Scheduled Caste was not invited to the foundation stone laying ceremony of Ram Mandir. Out of 200 pundits, not one Dalit was invited,” he said.
The AITC leader also asserted that the BJP should address the problems, if it wants to honour the ST community otherwise what is the point.
“If you want to empower the ST community you give him/her the independence to work freely. You had a Dalit president who couldn’t utter a word, who was not honoured when Ram Mandir founding ceremony was held, and you talk about ST representation? You want to play caste dynamics just to fulfill your own vested electoral interest. You are not interested in uplifting the ST community or doing actual development for them,” he directly charged the BJP.