As electioneering picks up in Punjab, Dalits feel their concerns remain unattended to

It’s time the 32% population stood up for the rights of the community, they say

On September 20, 2021, Charanjit Singh Channi took oath as Chief Minister of Punjab, becoming the first person from the Scheduled Castes community to hold the top post which sent a wave of elation among the community. But barely four months down the line there is a sense among a section of the SCs that beyond lip service, nothing concrete has been done to resolve their long-pending problems.

Electioneering is at its peak as the State goes to the Assembly poll on February 20. Its’ early morning and a group of close to a dozen people from the SC community have gathered in Patiala’s Baradari garden to carve out a strategy to force political parties to ensure early resolution of their issues, which they assert have been pending for years due to the indifference of successive governments.

“Nothing has changed in years for us. Recently, the Congress appointed Charanjit Channi but the appointment of a ‘Dalit’ Chief Minister is of no use for the community if our problems remain unaddressed. For us, the resolution of issues is more important than the ‘personality’. Appointing a Dalit CM in itself is not going to resolve our problems,” says Paramjit Singh Kainth, chief of the National Scheduled Castes Alliance, an organisation working for Dalit rights.