SC/ST organisations' confederation non-political: Udit Raj

BJP MP and chairman of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations, Udit Raj, Friday said the organization was a non-political one whose aim was to make people aware of their rights.

He was here to participate in a function of the outfit. "Our federation is non-political. Our aim is to unite unorganized and illiterate people and make them aware of their rights," Raj told PTI here.

He refused to comment on the "Bharat bandh" organised Thursday by certain groups opposed to the amendments to the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act passed by Parliament early last month.

The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha had, on August 6 and August 9 respectively, passed the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill to overturn a Supreme Court order concerning certain safeguards against arrest under this Act.

Shops, schools, and other commercial establishments were closed in parts of Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab, but the shutdown call by anti-reservation bodies had little impact elsewhere in the country. Raj, a former Indian Revenue Service officer, is a BJP Lok Sabha MP from North West Delhi.