Ensure passage of backward classes bill: Thawar Chand Gehlot

Bengaluru: Union minister for social justice and empowerment, Thawar Chand Gehlot, appealed to all political parties, including the Congress, to facilitate smooth passage of the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) amendment bill in Rajya Sabha. 

Delivering the key note address at a state level seminar organized by the OBC Morcha of the Bharatiya Janata Party,  Mr Geholt said that the bill has been referred to a joint select committee but expressed confidence that it would be passed in Rajya Sabha shortly. 

State BJP president and former chief minister B .S. Yeddyurappa hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking a decision to accord constitutional status to the National Backward Classes Commission. 

The recommendations and report of the National Commission of Backward Classes would be mandatory for all states. After implementing GST, amendment to NCBC would be a historic decision of the BJP led NDA government, he added.

Union minister for parliamentary affairs, H N Ananth Kumar, criticized Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for not supporting the amendment bill. 

“Mr  Siddaramaiah is claiming that he is the champion of backward classes in the state, but he has no time to look into the amendment bill. Except three states, all states have supported the bill, which is pending by Rajya Sabha. Mr Siddaramaiah should prevail upon his party high command to facilitate smooth passage of the bill,” Mr. Ananth Kumar said.

He said that once NCBC gets constitutional status, including hearing and disposing off complaints from the backward classes, even backward classes would get their due. 

Muralidhar Rao, in-charge of Bharatiya Janata Party’s Karnataka unit,  said that Mr Siddaramaiah must demonstrate his genuine concern for the backward classes by getting his party to approval the bill. 

He criticized Congress leaders for dispatching Congress MLAs of Gujarat to Bengaluru, and alleged that they were held in a confinement at a resort in Bengaluru.