The Tamil Nadu BJP on Tuesday hit out at Chief Minister M K Stalin's speech at the DMK-sponsored All India Federation of Social Justice by stating that he has "lost the credibility to talk about social justice" and questioned why no person has been arrested till now in the Vengaivayal human faeces incident from last December.
In his virtual address at the first conference of the federation held in Delhi on Monday, Stalin had slammed the ruling BJP in Karnataka for doing away with reservation for Muslims, saying it was done with an eye on the Assembly polls in that state.
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"They (quota) have been added to EWS instead. The quota scrapped for Muslims have been given to other two communities (Vokkaligas and Lingayats) there by setting the ground for enmity between the groups concerned. The Scheduled Castes are also discriminated. They have done this keeping the upcoming elections in kind. People have been discriminated based on a notion of who votes for BJP and who does not. Social justice has been murdered so blatantly in Karnataka," the DMK chief said.
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader D Raja along with other organisation leaders who are opposed to the ruling BJP participated in the event.
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Speaking to PTI, state BJP vice president Narayanan Thirupathy said: "M K Stalin has lost the credibility to talk about social justice. It has been three months since the issue (Vengaivayal incident) had happened and not a single person was arrested."
In Vengaivayal village of Pudukkottai district, human faeces was allegedly mixed in an overhead drinking water tank in a Scheduled Caste-dominated area last December that sparked widespread criticism among the public and political parties alike. The TN government has constituted a CB-CID team to probe the incident.
Regarding Stalin's criticism over social justice being "murdered" in Karnataka, the BJP leader said: "We do accept that the Muslim community is economically backward and that is the reason why 3 per cent out of 10 per cent in EWS quota is allotted to Muslims. It is the Karnataka government which has given two per cent more reservation to SCs and STs."
While talking about 10 per cent quota for economically weaker sections (EWS), Stalin had pointed out that it was an injustice to push the poor oppressed caste people out of the EWS ambit.
Replying to Stalin's accusation, Thirupathy said: "Having Congress on one side and Communist parties on other side, he talks about how the EWS Bill in Parliament was supported by both Congress and Communist parties. Now, Stalin should openly announce that DMK is no longer in the alliance of Congress and Communists."
"We are not bothered about Congress' upcoming plans. The only genuine social justice party is BJP," Thirupathy further said. In a series of tweets on Tuesday, TN BJP chief K Annamalai also slammed the Chief Minister's views at the conference.
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"TN CM has chosen to close his eyes and say the world is dark. That’s how his attempt to project social justice federation & the speech that he gave yesterday reflected. He doesn’t want the EWS reservation, which Aringar Anna, his ideological mentor, wanted back in 1967," he said.
"Thiru @mkstalin should understand that the BJP govt in our neighbouring state Karnataka has demonstrated social justice by hiking the reservation for SC from 15% to 17% & for ST from 3% to 7% and not through pointless video conferences," Annamalai added.
He said the Left front in Kerala, the Congress regime in Rajasthan and JD(U)-led government in Bihar have all implemented EWS, and wondereed why the RJD, which is in an alliance with JD(U) in Bihar, Communist leaders and the Rajasthan CM were echoing their views against EWS, which is "nothing but a joke."
