“Show me one promise that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has fulfilled for dalits and girijans since he came to power, and all that he had done is to take them for a ride,” claimed Telangana Congress president A. Revanth Reddy while explaining the reason for launching the Dalita Girijana Dandora from Indervelli on August 9.
Promises of first dalit Chief Minister in Telangana, three acres land to dalits, 12% reservations to girijans, development fund of ₹10,000 crore to dalits and ₹50,000 crore to STs promised in the TRS manifesto, and job recruitment for SCs and STs were all yet to be honoured, he said.
Similarly, double bedroom houses, ₹10,000 support before the GHMC elections, job notifications before the Graduate MLC polls, and hordes of assurances given before the Dubbaka and Nagarjunasagar bypolls were all forgotten once the elections were over.
The Congress chief said that if job recruitment was done on time thousands of dalit and tribal families would have been settled by now. Nearly 9 lakh applications from SC and ST youngsters were pending for financial support. Besides, the self-respect of dalits and girijans had been severely hit with dalits tortured at Nerella and tribal farmers handcuffed for demanding support price. “Aren’t these enough to reflect the attitude of this government?” he asked.
Mr. Reddy also termed the TRS government a “Sample Government” and went on to accuse it of offering some samples before the elections to attract the voters like a sweet seller inducing the customers with a small piece of sweet. “KCR looks for new samples in every election and Dalit Bandhu is just one of those,” he claimed. “The meeting is precisely to expose the government on how it induces poor communities rather than working with commitment.”
“Given the track record of this government, we will pressure it to extend Dalit Bandhu scheme to girijans in all the 119 constituencies,” he said, adding that the TRS MLAs were already facing the heat in several constituencies with demands for resignations so that the scheme could be implemented as it was being promised for Huzurabad. “This reflects the lack of confidence in this government more than the trust that the Chief Minister has been claiming,” he said.
On choosing Indervelli for the launch of the programme, he said the place was inspirational given its history against suppression and atrocities. “The dandora will inspire people to fight against repressive policies. More so, when August 9 is celebrated as World Tribals Day.”
