BJP does not want BCs, SCs/STs to progress, hence opposing caste census: CM Stalin

CHENNAI: Accusing the BJP regime of not implementing social justice effectively, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday said that the BJP does not want the poor, the disadvantaged, backward classes, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to progress.

Speaking virtually at the third national conference of the All India Federation of Social Justice, Stalin said, "Social justice is not being implemented effectively by the BJP government. Over the past decade, Union government departments have not fully implemented the 27% reservation for the Backward Classes. The BJP does not want the poor, the disadvantaged, the Backward Classes, the Scheduled Castes, or the Scheduled Tribes to progress. That is why they oppose social justice. They are hell-bent on introducing economic criteria into reservations."

Stalin argued that they were not opposed to financial assistance for the poor and needy, "However, we are opposed to extending reservation - which should be provided on the basis of social backwardness - to general category castes solely based on economic criteria. The BJP is not only Anti-SC, Anti-ST, and Anti-OBC but also Anti-Women. That is why they have put the women's reservation in cold storage."

Alleging that the BJP regime was resisting the conduct of caste-based census just as it resisted women's reservation, the Chief Minister said the BJP government must immediately commence the decennial census due in 2021, along with a caste-based survey.

"Its reluctance to conduct these is because it would pave the way to genuine social justice. By refusing the caste-based survey, they refuse social justice, and by delaying reservation for women, they refuse women's rights," he added, appealing to the affiliate parties to raise their voices against this approach of the BJP.