Social justice achievable only through reservations: BC leaders
Leaders of Backward Class (BC) organisations on Tuesday called for the enhancement of BC reservations before conducting elections to Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs), asserting that meaningful social justice was possible only through adequate political representation.
Addressing a meeting at the National BC Dal office in Kachiguda, National BC Dal president and BC Reservations Achievement Coordination Joint Action Committee (JAC) chairman Dundra Kumaraswamy said that proceeding with local body elections without revising BC reservations would be unjust and exclusionary.
Mr. Kumaraswamy alleged that successive governments led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had failed to provide proportionate political representation to backward classes, despite frequent claims of commitment to social justice. He said BC communities continued to remain marginalised in decision-making bodies wherever the party was in power.
Referring to the recent Assembly elections, he said the Congress had been voted to power on the strength of public trust and expectations of corrective governance. He urged the Congress government in Telangana to honour that mandate by taking immediate steps to enhance BC reservations, particularly in grassroots democratic institutions.
Conducting MPTC and ZPTC elections without implementing increased reservations for BCs would undermine the principles of inclusive governance, he said, adding that the State government should take a clear and timely policy decision on the issue.
The leaders demanded that the proposed local body elections be deferred until enhanced BC reservations were formally notified and implemented.Representatives of various BC organisations and activists attended the meeting.
