Now Civil Society of Dalits, Backwards and Minorities rise for their rights!
- All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations -

New Delhi, August 26, 2011

All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations
T-22, Atul Grove Road,
Connaught Place,
New Delhi-110001,
Tel: 91 11 23354841, 91 11 23354842

The Chairman of All India Confederation of SC/ST Organizations- Dr. Udit Raj, Sr. IAS -P.S. Krishnan, Peace Party leader- Yusuf Ansari, Urdu Sahara Editor -Aziz Burney, Social activists – Shabnam Hashmi, Mast Ram Kapur, Dilip Mandal, All India Christian Council leaders- John Dayal, Bishop MS Screakriaf and Madhu Chandra, President of Shoshit Samaj Dal Akhilesh Katiyar, Sr. Advocate Subba Rao, Gen Secy of IJP- C. P. Singh, Fmr Minister- Ibrahim Qureshi, Prof Vivek Kumar, Grand son of Maulana Azad –Firoj Bakht Ahmed, Prof. Akhter Mehandi and many other such personalities have decided to urge the government to include the demands of Bahujan Lokpal Bill while passing the Lokpal law. It was also discussed that in the Constitution, there is a fine and delicate balance between legislature, executive and judiciary and if anyone of these transgresses its power, that will disturb the balance and resultantly the Constitution will be affected.

The Govt. Bill which is pending for consideration before the Standing Committee of the Parliament is not strong enough to book the corrupt. The way the govt. is considering the features of all three bills – Govt. Bill, Jan Lokpal Bil and NCPRI Bill, the suggestions of Bahujan Lokpal Bill also be considered. We are of the strong opinion that unless Corporate Houses, NGOs and Media are included in the ambit of the Bill, there will not be much impact to check graft.

In the Lokpal Committee, the representation of Dalits, Backwards and Minorities should be there, as it is in the govt. services. These communities are apprehensive that if this committee is constituted without giving them due consideration, it is more likely that dalits, backwards and minorities' officers and leaders will be targeted on pick and choose basis.

Our society is not only caste ridden but at the same time it is multicultural and religious also. So the representation of each major community should be taken care of. The corruption is more social in nature than political, therefore , without addressing it, there is no possibility to weed it out. On 24th August, we organized a mammoth rally for our demands and unlike the news of Anna Hazare, not a single electronic channel has telecast it. Isn’t this mental corruption?

The presence of participants in Anna Hazare's movement is not only exaggerated but telecast continuously. There is plurality and diversity in the society and so our views should have been also shown. In these circumstances, we demand representation of these communities in the structure of Lokpal Committee. There are many schemes for the upliftment of these communities but due to rampant corruption, fruits are not reaching to them and therefore, the Bahujan Lokpal Bill urges the govt. to consider this also. Violation of reservation should be also treated as an act of corruption.

Dr. Udit Raj said that there are misgivings that the Rally of 24th August was against Anna Hazare agitation but that is not true. In so far as corruption is concerned, we are also strongly opposed to it. From our rally it was asked to the craftsmen of Janlokpal Bill why did they not include Corporate Houses, Media and NGOs? Anna ji was asked why he kept silent when North Indians in Maharashtra and Muslims in Gujarat were targeted and brutalized? He was also asked to express his views on reservation for dalits.

If his civil society leaders are not trusting the representatives who are elected by lacks of people then how the honesty and impartiality of Lokpal can be guaranteed ? No doubt there is too much corruption in politics but it is more by the blessings of Corporate Houses. At least, there are checks on peoples’ representatives and that is seeking the mandate of people again and again but those deterrents are not there in case of Lokpal.

We have asked for an appointment with the Prime Minister and Standing Committee of Parliament to submit our Bill and so far that has not been communicated. The Govt. is not treating us at par with Anna Hazare Civil Society and this is proved by the fact that so far we have not been consulted and nothing communicated to us.

For more information, please contact:
Abhishek Katiyar
(Media Inchange)