The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday said that a Dalit would be made deputy chief minister if the party gets voted to power in the upcoming state Assembly elections. Party chief Arvind Kejriwal made the announcement while releasing AAP’s manifesto for Dalits, which he said had a 19-point agenda. Kejriwal was speaking at a rally in the Doaba region, which has a large Dalit population.
“We don’t want to use Dalits as a votebank, but want to involve them in government functioning,” Kejriwal said to the press after his public address. “A special investigation team will fix responsibility and recommend exemplary punishment for atrocities and false cases registered against Dalits in the last five years,” he added, according to The Indian Express. This is the first time any party has made such a promise to the community, Kejriwal claimed.
Among other promises are houses for all Dalits, Rs 51,000 as a shagun amount at the weddings of all Dalit women and a scholarship scheme for higher education. He promised that Dalits would be given priority for jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, and that the part would set up special cooperative societies, a sanction for tube-wells and loan schemes for the community.
More than 30% of Punjab’s population comprises Dalits, the highest proportion among all of India’s states. The Doaba region includes Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr.
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