Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 6

A programme launched by the BJP to woo Dalits by promising a Dalit Chief Minister in the state has set the alarm bells ringing in the Congress, with the 2022 Assembly elections due early next year.

‘Yug parivartan’ programme

The three-member Mallikarjun Kharge panel that concluded its hearing of the Punjab Congress leaders on Friday was informed about the BJP and RSS leaders wooing prominent Dalit faces in the party with the promise of being made the Chief Minister or the Deputy Chief Minister. The Shiromani Akali Dal has also promised the Deputy Chief Minister post to a Dalit leader.

To prove mobilisation by the BJP at the grassroots level, the party leaders have pointed towards “ardas” by a preacher, Gurmel Singh Khalsa, a former Dalit sarpanch of Bir Talab Gurdwara in Bathinda, where he can be heard in a video wishing the next Punjab CM should be from Scheduled Caste and the BJP deserved appreciation for making a similar announcement.

Similar “ardas” has been performed in some other gurdwaras, it has been pointed out. “It is part of ‘yug parivartan’ programme being undertaken by the saffron party,” said a Dalit leader from Doaba.

In Punjab’s poll arena, Dalits with 33 per cent vote share hold sway. Political analysts believe that the BJP, to neutralise the main political parties in the rural hinterland, could throw the bait to Dalit leaders, pointing out that Jats with 19 per vote share have been dominating the political arena, pushing aside the Dalits and other backward class leaders. The same card could be used for polarisation of the Hindu vote bank, they opined.

Shamsher Singh Dullo, a senior Dalit Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP, said he had been flagging the issue for long. “I have demanded that a Dalit be launched as the CM face in Punjab to checkmate the BJP. But the Congress government has been ignoring Dalit issues, including SC scholarship and adequate representation to Dalit leaders in political appointments,” he said.

Dr Raj Kumar Verka, a senior Dalit leader who has been highlighting the community issues, said he was hopeful that after listening to their views the party high command would do the needful.