Stalin pitches for unity at meet on Social Justice
Chief Minister MK Stalin, at the DMK-convened conference of political parties on social justice on Monday, appealed to those subscribing to social justice principles to unite for the cause, to succeed in envisioning an India that offers equal justice to all and foster brotherhood.
The conference was seen by many as a show of strength by the Opposition with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren and Bihar DyCM Tejashwi Yadav joining in to raise their voice against the oppression of backward classes.
Addressing the meet from here via video call, Stalin said, “The struggle for the attainment of social justice is not an issue of a single state or a set of a few states, it is an issue concerning all states. It is associated with the structure of Indian society. There might be differences in the degree of problems along caste and class lines in each state, but the core of the issue is the same. That is gross discrimination.”
Proposing a collective voice to establish the principles of federalism, state autonomy, secularism, equality, fraternity, socialism and social justice all over India, the CM said, “However idealistic an ideology may be, for it to succeed, the unity among the parties which have accepted the ideology is of great importance. Such unity should not be confined to a few states alone.”
Describing social justice as an antidote to the poison of discrimination, exclusion and untouchability, slavery and injustice, the CM said, “Let’s fight together to create an India of social justice, an India of equal justice and an India of brotherhood.”
Asserting that reservation must be based on social and educational backwardness and the BJP has cunningly included economic criteria, the CM said, “BJP implements EWS on the pretext of poor among forward castes. This is not social justice.” Wondering if it was not injustice to push the poor oppressed caste people out of the EWS ambit, Stalin said, “This is the reason we oppose EWS. It is the ploy of the BJP to give 10 per cent reservation to the forward castes. Those who said reservation is against merit are supporting EWS reservation alone.”