BJP revamps backward classes commission

LUCKNOW: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday revamped yet another state-owned commission to accommodate party cadres in an election year

LUCKNOW: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday revamped yet another state-owned commission to accommodate party cadres in an election year. Jaswant Saini, 51, an old party hand, who was the vice chairman of the Uttar Pradesh State Commission for Backward Classes, was made chairman of the crucial body, an appointment that came a day after the party revamped the state-owned SC/ST commission and accommodated 25 more cadres on Wednesday.

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“We will work towards ending exploitation of backwards,” said Saini who has served in various capacities in the BJP and hails from Saharanpur.

He said there were about 7,000 complaints that the commission had received since the BJP came to power in the state and added that half of them had been addressed.

“These are markedly less than what used to be the case earlier,” Saini said referring to previous non-BJP governments.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath congratulated Saini on his elevation to the Uttar Pradesh state commission for backward classes that was set up in 1993 and has since received variety of complaints, mostly pertaining to reservation in jobs, in educational institutions and of police harassment among many others.

Two vice chairmen, Heera Thakur, who shifted from the BSP to BJP and Prabhunath Chauhan from Ghazipur also made it to the backward body along with 22 members, mostly BJP hands. Some BJP men indicated that some allies like Apna Dal and Nishad party too might have found some representation though there was no confirmation on it.