AAP to launch ‘Dalit dialogue’ in Punjab

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party will kickstart a ‘Dalit dialogue’ series in poll-bound Punjab this week, a move that comes at a time atrocities against the community

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party will kickstart a ‘Dalit dialogue’ series in poll-bound Punjab this week, a move that comes at a time atrocities against the community have become the focus of political discourse.

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The outreach is part of AAP’s decision to come up with a Dalit manifesto for assembly elections scheduled early next year in the state. The caste-specific manifesto — expected by September-end — will be a first in the country, though some regional parties are identified with specific caste groups.

Dalits legally come under scheduled cast es, who makeup 32% of Punjab’s population, according to the 2011 census— the single biggest vote bank in terms of caste groups.

Squaring up against the ruling B JP-Shiromani Akali Dal combine and the opposition Congress, the AAP is hoping for a repeat of its monster victory in Delhi last year.

Scheduled castes are a big chunk (16.7%) of Delhi’s population, too, but the AAP didn’t feel the need for such a manifesto here. Sanjay Kumar, a professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, said this was because the writing was already on the wall for the Capital.

The Dalit dialogues will be organised in each district and a gist of these will find reflection in the manifesto, AAP sources said.

“The manifesto will have a clear roadmap and promises aimed at empowering Dalits. Health and education are likely to be thrust areas as a majority of Dalits depend on government institutions in these sectors,” a senior AAP leader said.

Academic and Dalit thinker Kancha Illaiah said AAP should include programmes that help abolish castiesm and untouchability while passing on the message that “human life is more important than the life of animals, including cows”.

“A food diversity programme was recently held in Hyderabad. It defended citizens’ right to eat things of their choice. I found it creative. If AAP can include such programmes in its manifesto, it can have a huge impact.”

Some AAP leaders said the manifesto should not be viewed through the prism of “casteism”. One leader called it AAP’ s attempt at “bonding” with the poor and Dalits. “Since its emergence, AAP has been a party of the poor. In Delhi, migrants, scheduled castes and minorities are it score support base. Even in its first assembly election in 2013, AAP won eight of the 12 reserved constituencies in Delhi,” said the leader who refused to be identified.

The first open letter AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal wrote after joining politics was to the Valmiki Samaj in Delhi, he said.

The sources also pointed to the AAP symbol (broom) and the party’s association with the Valmiki mandir in Kejriwal’s New Delhi constituency, especially before starting big-ticket projects and campaigns.

Delhi CM Kejriwal had visited the University of Hyderabad in January in the wake of the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, and recently Una in Gujarat where cow vigilantes had assaulted Dalits.