If Draupadi Murmu can promise not to be subservient to the central government, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) will back her completely in the presidential election, party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said here today.
Murmu is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but has also gained the support of opposition parties as she will, if elected next month, be the first tribal person to be elected President.
Banerjee, who is on his first visit to Shillong, was asked why the TMC was not backing the tribal candidate, who would also be only the second woman to hold the post of President. He said that the party is not interested in “token representation” but is looking for someone who will fulfil all the requirements of the role.
For the last five years, India has had a Scheduled Caste President in Ram Nath Kovind but he has not spoken out against the many atrocities that Dalits have faced under the BJP-led government at the Centre, Banerjee said succinctly.
“A president who belongs to a Scheduled Caste was not invited when the foundation stone laying ceremony of Ram Mandir was held. Out of 200 pandits one Dalit was not invited. If you want to honour the Scheduled Tribe community, you should address their problems,” Banerjee said, adding that 90 percent of cases related to atrocities committed against STs are still pending in court.
Under the BJP, the government is cutting ST quotas and student scholarships, the TMC leader claimed, adding that Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, states ruled by the saffron party, are the worst when it comes to crimes against tribals.
The BJP is uninterested in uplifting SCs or STs but is good at serving their own vested political interests, he went on to say while stating that he has the highest regard for Murmu’s political legacy.
“Let her come and say I will open my mouth and not pay heed to what the government or the Prime Minister or the Home Minister thinks. I will not act subservient to the government. I will make sure that the government operates within the ambits of the Constitution. I will work as the true custodian of the Constitution. [Then] we (TMC) will support her,” Banerjee concluded.
