KANNUR: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday accused the BJP-led Centre of adopting a ‘hostile approach’ towards the Dalit community in the country and said the stopping of scholarship amount for students belonging to the marginalised section was one of its explicit examples.He said the Left government in the state has been implementing several programmes to ensure justice in the society and to ensure the socio-cultural and economic uplift of the Dalit and tribal communities.Apart from improving the living standards of the backward communities, the state government is also trying to root out the inhuman caste system prevailing in society, the CM further said.Vijayan was speaking at the Chief Minister’s Face-to-Face Program with people belonging to the tribal and Dalit communities in the northern district.Detailing various measures being implemented by his government for the upliftment of the children belonging to the backward sections, he accused the Centre of neglecting them.”The Central government is adopting a hostile approach towards the Dalit community. A clear example of this is the stopping of the scholarship amount for them,” he added.However, the state government had not stopped the scheme by pointing to the Centre’s stand, he explained.Instead, the state government has decided to provide the complete amount for the post-matric scholarship for the SC/ST students belonging to families with an income above Rs 2. 5 lahks and for the scholarship of the backward class students up to eighth standard, he added.”It’s a social commitment. All these are proof of concern and care the state government has towards the marginalised sections of the community,” the CM further said.Pointing out that those belonging to the SC/ST communities have been left far behind in social progress due to historical reasons, Vijayan said those reasons were imposed upon society by the ‘chaturvarnya’ and priestly systems with vested interests.
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