Bhubaneswar: The opposition Congress today announced that it would organise ‘Samvidhan Bachao’ (save the Constitution) rally here on April 28.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) President Bhakta Charan Das said here a series of rallies will be organised at the district, division and assembly segment levels to seek “social, political and economic justice”.
The state-level ‘Samvidhan Bachao’ rally will be held in Bhubaneswar on April 28, followed by district-level rallies from May 3 to 10, he said.
The campaign would then move to the Assembly segment level, between May 11 and 17, he added.
Shri Das said the final phase will involve door-to-door campaigns from May 20 to 30.
Addressing media persons here, State Congress in-charge Ajay Kumar Lallu alleged that as Rahul Gandhi has been demanding a caste census to ensure that the rights of SCs, STs and OBCs are protected, the Centre has framed him and his mother Sonia Gandhi in the “fabricated” National Herald case to divert people’s attention.
“Though the total OBC population of Odisha is 54 per cent, they are getting only 11.25 per cent reservation in government jobs and no reservation in education,” he claimed.
“Even though Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan belongs to Odisha and he is an OBC, the OBC students are not getting any reservation in education here,” he said.
The SC, ST and OBC people of Odisha were also deprived of their rights to get proper reservation in employment and education. Though the total OBC population in Odisha is 54 percent, they are getting only 11.25 percent reservation in government jobs and no reservation in education, he pointed out.
As per the recommendation of the Mandal Commission, he claimed, the OBC people in Odisha were getting 27 percent reservation till 2007. The then BJD government has stopped it.
“Even though Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan belongs to Odisha and he is an OBC, the OBC students are not getting any reservation in education,” the Congress MP said.
In Odisha, ST and SC population constitute close to 40 percent of total population. Lallu further claimed that the SC, ST people are getting only 17.25 percent in government jobs and no reservation for study except 20 percent reservation only in technical education, which is also an injustice to them.
“We will make people aware that there is a threat to the Constitution under the BJP regime at the Centre,” he said.
Congress Legislature Party leader Rama Chandra Kadam, who was present at the press conference, slammed the BJP government for not implementing the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996, in the state.