Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has urged the Dalits to join the mainstream parties to seize political power.
Addressing a function organised by the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee here on Saturday to mark the birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar, he said there was no necessity for Dalits to wait for political power to fall into their lap.” You have got to seize it” as it had been eluding them for too long. Political power granted to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the country during the past 65 years could be termed “just tokenism.”
The Home Minister was categorical that Dalits would not be able to get political power by forming separate parties. “Join us (Congress) if you feel like. If you find us moderate, join Communist parties. If you find them extremists, join regional parties,” he counselled them.
He pointed out that it was Congress which was magnanimous enough to entrust Dalits with important portfolios in the government while all the governments headed by other parties allotted portfolios which carried little weight. “They remained just a symbol,” he added.
Shipping Minister G.K.Vasan said Congress had always remained the “protector and the pillar” of Dalits.
