http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/25/stories/2007092555190500.htm
Karnataka - Bangalore 'Dalit MLAs, MPs stooges of politicians' Special Correspondent 'Those amenable to 'upper caste' interests have been given tickets' 'Budget allocation to SC/STs is regularly diverted' Bangalore: Elected representatives from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes fail to speak up for the cause of their communities because their political survival depends on "upper caste" votes, said Bojja Tarakam, Dalit leader from Andhra Pradesh and President of the South India cell of the Republican Party of India. Speaking at a function organised by the Federation of SC/STs Employees Welfare Associations to mark the 75th anniversary of the Poona Pact, he said MLAs and MPs being "at the mercy of upper caste Hindu" votes was the sad legacy of the agreement between Gandhiji and B.R. Ambedkar in 1932. Ambedkar had demanded separate electorates for Dalits, a demand rejected by Gandhiji. Ambedkar, he added, was "forced" to sign it because Gandhiji had threatened a fast unto death if a separate electorate was given to Dalits, arguing that the depressed classes were not a minority, but part of the larger Hindu fold. Though there are reserved constituencies for SCs and STs, only those "amenable" to "upper caste" interests have historically been given tickets by all political parties since the first election, argued Mr. Tarakam. This was the reason why MLAs and MPs had never spoken up for the rights of Dalits even when people of their communities were massacred, as in Karamchedu in Andhra Pradesh and Kambalapalli in Karnataka, he added. Elected representatives do not speak up even though money allotted for SCs and STs is regularly siphoned off, pointed out Mr. Tarakam. Though 15 per cent of budget allocation is reserved for SCs under Special Component Plan and six per cent for STs under Tribal Sub-Plan since 1975, the money is always diverted. MLAs and MPs from reserved constituencies were reduced to being "stooges of political parties" as a result of the electoral equation drawn up by the Poona Pact, said Mr. Tarakam.
