Union Minister takes up Dalit issues, meets PM

New Delhi – Taking up the long–standing demand of the Dalit Christians and Muslims, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan recently led a delegation to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded that equal rights be given to these downtrodden communities.

“Christians, are availing the facilities of reservation in OBC and ST categories, there is no reason why dalit Muslims and Christians be denied facilities given to Scheduled Caste," said Paswan, indignantly.

According to news reports, the minister pointed out that while initially dalit Hindus were provided facilities given to Scheduled Castes, Sikh and neo–Buddhist communities were subsequently included in this category. However, till date, Dalit Christians and Muslims have been categorically left out and ignored.

Besides Paswan, the delegation included Ramchandra Paswan, MP, National President of Dalit Sena, Suraj Bhan, MP and M. Ejaz Ali, National President of All India United Muslim Morcha.

For a long time Dalit Christians have been demanding equal rights under reservation for Dalits. A Public Interest Litigation is pending in the Supreme Court on the subject. Incidentally, the apex court had accepted to continue hearing the case in spite of the Government claiming that the matter pertains wholly to the executive domain.