Shalinitai finds fault with NCP's social justice plank

Mumbai, July 10 (UNI) Rejecting charges of indiscipline for raising her voice against caste-based reservations, former Maharashtra Minister and NCP MLA Shalinitai Patil today said the concept of social justice propogated by her party and its ally Congress was "faulty".

''There will be no social justice if casteist barriers are not broken and that will happen if the Central and the State Government do not encourage caste-based reservations to appease certain sections of society for mere political gains,'' Ms Patil, who represents the Koregaon Assembly constituency in Satara district, said, addressing a press conference here.

She said she neither intends to leave the NCP nor form a separate political outfit. ''I want to remain in the party and remove all the misconceptions of social justice. Even though nobody in the NCP has supported me, no one has spoken against the cause I stood for. I consider this as silent support from the party,'' she said.

Ms Patil said she had replied to the showcause notice issued to her by the NCP and since the party had not made the contents of the notice public, she would not disclose her reply. But, she said she had been charged with indiscipline and insulting national heroes.

''I was told that the party considered the teachings of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj and Dr B R Ambedkar as the soul of the party and I had insulted Dr Ambedkar. I went through the constitution of NCP and nowhere names of these heroes are mentioned, leave alone their teachings. Besides, no MLA of the party was asked to take a pledge in support of all the three national icons. If that was so, I would have given second thoughts on taking oath as a NCP MLA,'' she added.

Ms Patil accused the Centre and the State Government of practising casteist politics to further their own political interests while harming social equality.

Without naming NCP general secretary Gurunath Kulkarni and party president Arun Gujarathi, Ms Patil said, ''The MLCs who accuse me of anti-party activities do not enter the Legislature through direct elections. They have no contact with the masses and get elected through our (MLA) votes in the Upper House.'' More UNI MR GK VD BST1849