Union Minister Anurag Thakur Challenges Congress on SC, ST, OBC Quota Cuts

Union Minister Anurag Thakur questions Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Congress leaders on potential cuts to SC, ST, and OBC quotas in jobs and education. Thakur accuses Congress of being anti-SC, ST, and OBC, while praising BJP's efforts in uplifting these communities through various welfare schemes.

Union minister Anurag Thakur asked Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and other Congress leaders on Friday to clarify if there is any move to cut the quota in jobs and education for the SCs, STs and OBC in the state, on the lines of some other states ruled by the party.

Addressing Lok Sabha poll rallies in Una and Bilaspur districts of the state, Thakur asked whether Sukhu had opposed it when the Congress government in Karnataka was preparing to kill the rights of the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) ''at the behest of 10, Janpath''? If not, then is Sukhu going to kill the rights of the SCs, STs and OBC in Himachal Pradesh too by cutting their reservation, he asked.

''The Congress has been anti-SCs, STs and OBC since its existence. On the other hand, the BJP has always been working for the uplift of the SCs, STs and OBC,'' the Union information and broadcasting minister said.

He said over the last 10 years, the welfare of the deprived sections of the society has been the priority of the BJP-led Centre, which has launched various schemes for them, and that is the reason why hundreds of SC, ST and OBC families are joining the saffron party every day in the state, including in Hamirpur.

Thakur said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been working for the uplift of the SC communities in Himachal Pradesh for decades. In 1998, when the saffron party's leader and his father Prem Kumar Dhumal was the chief minister of the hill state, the budget for the Scheduled Caste sub-plan was increased from 11 per cent to 25 per cent, he said.

Dhumal also got Ambedkar Bhawans constructed in every Assembly constituency and started the Dr Ambedkar Scholarship Scheme for 2,000 meritorious students from SC families every year, the BJP leader said.

The four Lok Sabha seats of Himachal Pradesh are scheduled to go to polls in the final phase of the seven-phase election on June 1 and the counting of votes will be taken up on June 4. Thakur, the incumbent member of Parliament from Hamirpur, has been re-nominated in the polls by the BJP.