Dalit organizations give August 30 as deadline to government on lateral entry issue

New Delhi: A big number of some Dalits organisations are planning to organise protest against the lateral entry of officers at joint secretary level but there are divergent view coming out from the same community. If a section is of the view that it is not done of large scale and is a temporary arrangement then other advocating reservation in this also while the government is firm on going ahead with its plans.

Ashok Bharti, who is leading the movement, told OneIndia that he is having meeting with Dalit organisations from all across the country including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Chandigarh.

"We have given time to the government up to August 30, 2018, and if the government does not accept our demands, we would be forced to take out our agitation," he said.

He said that he is also meeting with other groups who are not happy with the government for ignoring their demands such as people who are protesting against OROP and some other groups.

However, Bharatiya Janata Party MP and chairman of All India Confederation of SC/ST Organizations Udit Raj demanded reservation among the people coming through the lateral entry saying that there is no dearth of good officers in the Dalit community but they should be given proper responsibility. He further said that appointment of Ten posts of Joint Secretary are going to be filled by people from private institutions which is violating the Reservation Policy. So he demanded reservation of SC/ST and OBC is applied in this also.

Telugu Desham Party, which recently parted ways with the NDA, is of the view that these appointments are very small in number so it will not impact the reservation policy as such. Speaking to OneIndia, Telugu Desham Party MP P Ravindra Babu said that it is a kind of expert joining special responsibility for which they will be entrusted with this job. They will come deliver the good and go back. So in an actual sense they are not going to impact the reservation policy and its spirit as such.

But the government is firm on this issue as Union minister of state in the PMO, Jitendra Kumar, said in very clear term while speaking to journalists in the BJP Headquarters that the government is very firm and is not going to withdraw this order. It will go ahead with this proposal.

Bharti, who had organised Dalits for April 2 Bharat Bandh, said, "Anger among Dalits is brewing over this issue. For them it is like bypassing the constitutional mechanism which is mandated to recruit for top government jobs, and hence ignore the mandatory reservation criterion for SCs and STs. And the protest is meant to send out the message that if their concerns are not addressed by the government, Dalits will give the BJP a befitting reply in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections."