Congress, Communists only used Dalits: Amit Shah
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday attacked the Congress and the Communist parties by saying they never worked for the welfare of SCs-STs and treated the Dalit communities only as a votebank. The leader, while speaking at a Scheduled Caste conference organised by the saffron party, said the Congress was disappearing while the Communist party was on the verge of extinction. He was in the state to preside over the 30th southern zonal council meet.
“Congress is disappearing from India while the Communist party is on the verge of extinction from the world. In Kerala, only the BJP has a future. The Congress party and the Communists never worked for the welfare of the SCs-STs. They treated them as mere votebank,” Shah said. He asked whether the Congress ever had a single Minister from these community.
When BJP had majority in Parliament to elect the Rashtrapathi, they selected a person from the Dalit community - Ram Nath Kovind, he said. “On our second chance, we selected an ST community leader Draupadi Murmu,” he said. “This is because Prime Minister believes that the development of the country is possible only through the development of the SC/ST communities. The Congress and the Communist parties did nothing for the Dalit communities despite being in power for so long,” he added.
Shah challenged the Congress and the Communist parties to come forward and explain what they have done for the downtrodden communities so far. He listed out the projects and policies of the Modi government for the Dalits and the SC/ST communities.
‘Explore joint solution for water dispute’
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday urged southern states to explore joint solution for river water sharing issues.In his address at the 30th southern zonal council meet held here and attended by chief ministers and Lieutenant Governors of southern states and union territories, he also asked Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to mutually resolve their pending issues, an official release here said.
“The Union Home Minister called on all States of the Southern Zonal Council to explore a joint solution to the issues related to the sharing of waters,” he said. Inter-state river water disputes in the south include the Cauvery issue between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and Krishna river water sharing dispute involving Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.