NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Assembly polls in five states, Left parties have decided to play the Dalit card to take on the BJP. Both the CPI and the CPI(M) have renewed their demand to enact the Rohith Act to prevent caste-based prejudice in educational institutions.
The Left, which has decided to contest the elections in all the five states—Uttarakhand, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Mizoram—, has expressed its willingness to join hands with secular parties to keep the BJP at bay.
Uttar Pradesh has a Dalit vote base of 20-21 percent. In the 2014 general elections, the Left had managed to win around 6.9 percent Dalit votes out of 24.4 percent total Dalit population, according to a data analysis published in Journal of Democracy.
The CPM has already adopted a resolution to lend support to the Act and take it nationally. The party has also decided to raise the matter during election rallies and during the Budget Session of Parliament.
Although the Left does not have much stake in the elections, it will utilise the issue to mobilise people against the Modi government. With the Congress and the Trinamool Congress hogging all the limelight on demonetisation since the day it was announced by the Prime Minister on November 8 last year, the CPI(M) does not want the Rohith issue to die and help the BJP take lead among Dalits.
The Congress had also invoked Rohith Vemula, a student of the University of Hyderabad who had committed suicide on January 17, 2016, at its Dalit Yatras demanding protection for backward class students.
“The central committee of the CPI(M) supports the demand raised by many student and Dalit organisations for the passage of the Rohith Act so that students can be protected from caste-oppression and caste-discrimination in educational institutions,” the party stated.
Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) president and MP, MB Rajesh says there has been a rise in incidents of Dalit students being harassed in educational institutions. “Rohith Vemula was not the only one. Several Dalit students became victims of caste atrocities over the years. Prejudice against OBCs and Dalit students has increased after the BJP government came to power in 2014. The issue has to be raised at all platforms across the country,” Rajesh said.
CPM Politburo member and senior MP Mohammad Salim agrees to it and said that the issue needs urgent attention and party leaders are talking about it during election campaigns.
“All party leaders who are campaigning are raising the issue of atrocities against the Dalits,” Salim said. The 10th All India Conference of DYFI to be held in Kochi next month will have a special discussion on discrimination against Dalit students. The invitees include Rohith’s brother and mother.