Chandigarh, June 23
Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Punjab Cabinet Minister Harpal Singh Cheema alleged that the BJP’s anti-Dalit mindset has been laid bare during its National President Nitin Nabin’s recent Punjab visit. Referring to a recent BJP event, he claimed that senior SC leaders such as former Union Ministers Vijay Sampla and Som Parkash were made to stand among the audience while others were seated on stage, pointing to clear discrimination.
Cheema pointed out that the BJP respects only an elite class while Dalits, workers and the poor are systematically sidelined and humiliated. He emphasised that the Scheduled Caste community, forming nearly 34 per cent of Punjab’s population, has witnessed this approach firsthand, and concluded that the BJP is anti-Punjab, anti-farmer and its anti-Dalit face has now been fully exposed, adding that the people of Punjab will respond firmly to such politics.
Addressing a press conference alongside AAP Punjab SC Wing Chairman Gurpreet Singh GP, Harpal Singh Cheema said, “According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2024 data, nearly 65 per cent of crimes against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the country were reported from four BJP-ruled states including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan. This reflects the BJP government’s failure to protect Dalits and demonstrates the party’s deep-rooted prejudice against marginalized communities.”
Concluding, Cheema said, “The BJP is not only anti-Punjab and anti-farmer, but its anti-Dalit face has now been fully exposed. The people of Punjab will give a fitting reply to such divisive and discriminatory politics.”