Chief Minister failed to curb caste bias: Raghavulu

Chittoor: CPM politburo member B V Raghavulu on Saturday criticised Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for his failure to contain caste discrimination in his own district.

Addressing a meeting organised by the CPM and SFI after staging a dharna at the collectorate, Raghavulu said though the Chief Minister had made an announcement that there was no caste discrimination, the Dalits in his native district were facing serious caste discrimination and upper castes were restricting their entry into the temples deliberately.

CPM leader says upper castes are restricting the entry of Dalits into temples deliberately

The Chief Minister remained a mute spectator in containing the caste discrimination, said Raghavulu. “It is shameful on the part of the Chief Minister for allowing caste discrimination in his native district,” he added.

“It is clearly evident that no Dalit IAS officer was appointed as TTD Executive Officer by CM earlier. The statues used in Dalit Govindam programme by the TTD were thrown into a darkroom. Hence there is no need to prove that caste discrimination against Dalits is rampant in Chittoor district at the behest of the Chief Minister,” he said.

Raghavulu maintained there was no entry for Dalits into Hindu temples in the district besides other religious events like Mahabharat Utsavams. The CPM would take initiative to organise the Utsavams in the temples with the active participation of Dalits, he said.

The CPM senior leader accused the government of forcibly occupying Dalit lands for its own purpose with the help of police. The government should declare its stand towards the welfare of the Dalits and the prevailing caste discrimination against them, he demanded.

He lamented that Dalit MPs and elected representatives had failed to eradicate caste discrimination and safe guarding the interests of the community in the district. There is no response on the petitions of Dalits in government offices, he said.
The CPM leader said the party would intensify its agitation against the caste discrimination unless Naidu came forward to root out it from society.

Referring to Centre’s attitude towards Dalits welfare, Raghavulu slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for claiming that a Dalit candidate was being made President of India at a time when Dalits were facing discrimination and abuses in the county.

He questioned as to why the Chief Minister did not visit Chittoor district to avert caste discrimination when the YSR Congress chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy visited Garagaparru in West Godavari, where Dalits were ostracised. He made it clear that the government should evolve a stringent policy and form a special force to eliminate of caste discrimination and to safeguard the interests of Dalits.

He also demanded that the TTD fill 5,000 backlog posts. Dalita Soshan Mukthi Munch national leader V Srinivasa Rao, CPI district secretary A Rama Naidu, MLC Y Srinivasulu Reddy, CPM district secretary Kumar Reddy, Republican Party chief Anjaiah, Mahila Dalit leaders Nirmala, Hemalatha and senior CPM leader K Murali spoke.

Earlier, the agitators resorted to rasta roko on Chittoor-Bengaluru highway raising slogans against the government. Later, they demanded the district collector to come out of his chambers to explain the stand of the government.