Naik: STs still treated as untouchables

HYDERABAD: Chairman of TPCC Adivasi Congress wing Bellaiah Naik Tejavath on Sunday criticised the Central government for not inviting President Droupadi Murmu, an Adivasi, to inaugurate the new Parliament House building. Bellaiah Naik likened it to untouchability and said the social evil was still being practised against the ST community.

The leader maintained that the Parliament building should have been opened by the President. But she was denied the honour as she is a tribal woman. “Why are parliamentarians from the SC, and ST communities not talking? There are 130 MPs from these communities, they should speak up. Is it because of the lure of power and positions? This is an insult to the entire backward communities, he questioned.

While the BJP bragged about making an Adivasi woman the President of India, what do their actions convey now? Sonia Gandhi refused the PM post twice. We will hold a demonstration near Jantar Mantar. We felt happy that a 125-foot-tall Ambedkar statue is being installed before the secretariat but looks like it has been done with an eye on Vastu compliance, the Congress leader said.

“We will unseat the 30 per cent Telangana state government in the ensuing elections. We will hold an Adivasi garjana on the lines of farmer and youth declarations”, he added.

Why is the BJP making a big hype around Sengol? Is it a symbol of democracy or monarchy? Is this an attempt to go to the days of manudharma shastras”, he asked.

Speaking on the occasion TPCC working president Anjan Kumar Yadav said, “Only the Congress party reaches out to all communities. The BJP is against backward communities. The party will be taught a lesson in the coming days.”