CHANDIGARH, Aug 26: Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Monday said the BJP government is committed to the welfare of Dalits while the Congress has been “spreading lies” to create confusion.
The minister of state for law and parliamentary affairs was addressing a ‘Dalit Samman Swabhiman Samaroh’ in Pipli in Haryana’s Kurukshetra ahead of the October 1 state polls.
Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar was also present at the event.
Meghwal said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is committed to the upliftment and empowerment of the Dalit community.
He said the Congress is running a fake narrative and creating confusion among people over the Supreme Court’s recent “observation” on the creamy layer among Scheduled Castes (SCs).
The top court has said that if states want, they can make sub-classifications within SCs. The court did not pass any order on the creamy layer, it was an observation, he asserted.
Meghwal alleged the Congress created a fake narrative in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls that the BJP would scrap reservation if it returned to power.
The government will follow Ambedkar’s Constitution and continue reservation for SCs and STs, he said.
During the Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi flashed a copy of the Constitution at various public meetings, the Union minister said.
“When we asked Rahul ji how many articles and chapters are there in the book he was holding, he could not answer. He had not even opened the Constitution,” he said.
“Should such Congress be defeated in the state or not?” Meghwal asked.
On the occasion, Meghwal also raised a slogan: “Jo Baba Saheb Ka Samman Karega Wohi Desh Mein Raj Karega. Jo Baba Saheb Ka Samman Karega Wohi Haryana Mein Raj Karega”.
Khattar also targeted the Congress for “spreading lies” during the Lok Sabha polls.
The power and housing and urban affairs minister said Ambedkar was an able administrator, a social reformer, a thinker and the architect of the Constitution but the Congress had always tried to undermine his stature.
He said the Congress trampled the Constitution when it imposed the Emergency.
On Rahul Gandhi’s demand for a caste census, Khattar said, “When an MP asked him (Gandhi’s) his caste, Congress members said no one has the right to ask one’s caste. On the one hand, they say you cannot ask (one’s caste), on the other they want a caste census. Their stand is not clear.” (PTI)