Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 21: Former Deputy Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Tara Chand has said that Congress always takes care of the aspirations and interests of various sections of the society with special focus to attract and promote the interests of the weaker and deprived sections of the society.
Addressing daylong conference of weaker sections organized by SC, OBC Mahasabha in Mishriwala Jammu today, Tara Chand said that Congress is a unifying force in the country and in the State with the multiple identities and aspirations of different sections of the society and it has always taken due care of the respective interests and sentiments in order to create harmony based on social, political and economic justice.
He said that deprived sections got the adequate opportunities to come up and compete along with other sections because of the constitutional and statutory provisions for their upliftment and adequate opportunities by Congress party from time to time both at Centre and in the State. The Scheduled Castes avails the reservations in the jobs and to the Legislature as well as in the Panchayat Raj institutions all over the country and in the State also because of the legislations introduced by the Congress party including J&K Reservation Act 2004. He said that the OBC Board in the state was also constituted by the initiative of the Congress and the party favoured due reservation to these sections of the society.
He said that certain parties who have traditionally been opposed by the upliftment of these weaker sections by way of reservations, are today claiming to be the champion of their cause with a view to exploit the oppressed classes especially in the State of J&K. He said that society is being misled and misinformed by the leaders of the ruling class in the Country with regards to the political reservation and other privileges and rights being availed by the scheduled castes in the state for several decades.
Former Minister Dr Manohar Lal Sharma blamed the BJP leadership of misleading the nation during the debate on the abrogation of special status regarding the rights especially the political; reservation available to the SC in the State from the decades. He said that the true facts and the picture was not presented on various other aspects of the state and said that the legal and constitution protection for the land and jobs for the local youth is in interest of the people of Jammu region too and the Govt. must take care of the sentiments of the people and restore the statehood with full rights at the earliest.
The conference was organized by SC, OBC Mahasabha led by its president, Bodh Raj Bhagat in which the prominent leaders of the deprived communities from various districts participated.