Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has also sought to raise concerns over the prolonged vacancies in the key constitutional bodies — the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for Backward Classes. In a letter written to Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Virendra Kumar, Gandhi called on the government to get the commissions appointed quickly and made fully functional.
He posted the letter separately on his official X (Twitter) account, voicing the struggles of Dalits and backward communities and said, ‘Thousands of Dalits and backward people are fighting for justice in all parts of the country. “Demand for caste census is being echoed everywhere.
Gandhi noted in his letter that the Chairperson, two members of the 7th NCSC, were appointed on March 3, 2024, and the Vice Chairperson position has remained vacant for almost a year. The Commission barred him from making any public comments on its functioning, to which he responded by lambasting the government as having intentionally weakened it, by maintaining an ‘anti Dalit mindset.’ Moreover, he pointed out that the NCSC has a crucial role to play in ensuring the rights of Dalits are protected and that it fails to do so adequately when understaffed.
Like, Gandhi has also pointed out about the vacant Vice-Chairperson’s seat of the NCBC for close to three years. He added that since the commission was established in 1993, the commission normally operates with a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson alongside at least three persons. At present, however, it runs with merely one member and a Chairperson.
He said that at a time when the demand for caste census on a nationwide scale is emerging stronger and stronger, the delay in filling these key positions looks to be a deliberate way to dilute institutions meant to safeguard marginalised communities. They called on the government to fill these vacancies immediately.
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