‘First Dalit Minister was subjected to humiliation’
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 9: BJP spokesman Balbir Ram Rattan today said that the atrocities on minorities especially those belonging to downtrodden sections started in undivided Pakistan right from the day it came into being on August 14, 1947 and the banner of revolt was taken up in hand by the then law Minister of Pakistan Joginder Nath Mandal who belonged to Dalit community.
In a statement issued here, today Balbir said it may not be known to most of the Indians that the first Law Minister of Pakistan was Joginder Nath Mandal, who belonged to Dalit community. It was really a matter of pride for the Dalits that one of the important portfolios in the Pakistan Government was then held by a person from their class. But it was just within few years of his service as Law Minister that Joginder Nath Mandal had to resign and take refuge in India. It is said that being a Dalit, he was maltreated and humiliated, that led to his resignation from the Ministerial berth and leave.
Balbir, while informing members of Dalit Community that the Hindus, including Dalits and minorities were not safe and secure in Pakistan from the days of its coming into existence and that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) need to be supported as it assures dignified and respectable life to persecuted members of these communities by granting them Indian citizenship rights if they seek so.
He said that every now and then there have been reports of abduction, forced conversion of girls from minorities in Pakistan, as well as damage to their religious places. Dalits, minorities are being falsely accused of various crimes, which can result in fine, lengthy prison sentence and sometimes death penalty under the cover of Draconian Blasphemy Act, he added.
Balbir said “we have to understand the fact that about 70 per cent of the people who have come from neighbouring countries-Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanisan- to India due to religious persecution, are from Dalit community and we in India, have to bring into mainstream such oppressed people, who have suffered in the Muslim countries which they willingly chose to live”.
“We also have to note with deep anguish that an atmosphere of fear is being created in the country through deliberate and fear-mongering statements, leading to violence in several parts of the country,” Balbir said and appealed to all the Dalit leaders of the country and UT, to come forward and support ‘Citizenship Amendment Act’.
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