The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Scheduled Caste wing has asked its members to reach out to the Dalit community to counter the negative campaign by Opposition parties, PTI reported on Tuesday.
The party’s national general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal said that whenever the BJP has come to power, the party has worked for the upliftment of the Dalit community. “The [Scheduled Caste] Morcha should reach out to the Dalit community to end the disinformation spread among Dalit societies by other political parties against the BJP government,” PTI quoted Lal as saying. “Spread awareness regarding welfare schemes launched by the Centre and states.”
The party’s SC wing also launched social media initiatives, including a Facebook page and a Twitter handle, to spread awareness about welfare schemes of the central government.
In April, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said that atrocities against the Dalit community were more common in BJP-ruled states. Mayawati had made the remarks after the April 2 nationwide shutdown called by multiple Dalit organisations against a Supreme Court judgment from March that diluted the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. At least nine people were killed in the protests.
On Monday, the Lok Sabha passed the the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2018, to restore the original provisions of the law.
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