Tamil Nadu - Vellore   

Republican Party to boycott Independence Day celebrations

VELLORE: The Republican Party of India would, in coordination with other Dalit organisations, organise a train-picketing agitation next month if the centre did not take concrete steps to ensure reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the private sector, C.K. Thamizharasan, All India General Secretary and Tamil Nadu State president of the party told newspersons here on Saturday.

The RPI leader said the Dalit ministers in the United Progressive Alliance government had discussed the introduction of a legislation providing reservation for the SCs/STs in the private sector.

But in his meeting with representatives of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told them that the government would not impose on them any condition for reservation.

The private companies could volunteer to provide reservation for SCs/STs.

Private players, on the other hand, were firm on their stand that their business would decline if reservation were to be introduced in recruitments. “We are only asking the private companies to recruit equally qualified persons from the SCs/STs and not those with lower qualifications. In what way would their business decline if they provide reservation for the Dalits?”

The RPI leader said the party would boycott the forthcoming Independence Day celebrations in the State to protest against the “failure” of the central and Tamil Nadu governments to ensure protection of the social rights of the Dalits. He said even 60 years after Independence, the Dalits were denied their social rights. The leader demanded budgetary allocation for maintenance of Adi Dravida schools.

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