Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali has said that India gave best parliamentary system to the world where people from every religion, caste and colours can raise their voice.Speaking in a seminar on ‘Parliamentary democracy and role of Dr BR Ambedkar’, Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali said that India is a country of diversified society where every citizen has been given right to raise voice. He said that there are various examples in the world where people are being crushed by the state if they raise voice against establishment but in India Democracy has empowered every citizen to raise voice, even against establishment. The Minister however said that there is need to help depressed classes in bringing them at par with mainstream and special focus is required to be laid on developing socio economic condition of scheduled tribes, scheduled castes, Dalits and other backward classes in India who are still deprived. He called upon all communities to come forward and play their role in encouraging these communities so that they also taste the real fruits of democracy.
The Minister said that BR Ambedkar was staunch supporter of depressed classe and he always raised the voice of these classes. He said that according to Ambedkar, social union is must for democracy to flower and flourish. He added that in democracy, minority does not become the victim of the tyranny of the majority so there should be certain safeguards for the protection of the minorities.Terming Ambedkar as genius par excellence, the Minister paid rich tribute to the leader and said that he was an economist, a sociologist, a political scientist, a great historian, a legal luminary, a great constitutionalist and above all a great champion of the downtrodden. He added that Ambedkar gave us a written document which paved way for us to live life with honour and dignity.Appreciating Forum of SC ST Parliamentarians, Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali said that Inder Iqbal Atwal is playing significant role of bridge to bond between the leaders of every state of India and this organisation is regularly raising issues of depressed classes in India. The Minister also appreciated Punjab Government and Punjab University authorities for giving platform to these depressed classes to raise their voice.
Calling upon the people to become crusader against castesiom, Zulfkar said that it is bitter truth that castesiom still prevails in many parts of India and many people face discrimination which defuses the idea of real democracy. He said that there is need to completely demolish the castle of castesiom in India so that all communities flourish and play their role in national building.The Minister also highlighted the achievements of J&K Government and role of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in dealing with public issues. He said that J&K State has got dynamic first lady Chief Minister who has set a target of outstanding development in the state. He added that government in J&K has achieved many milestones in just few months and coalition partners are working together to mitigate the problems of the people and take the state to the new horizons of development.Kaptan Singh Solanki, Governor of Haryana, Ram Nath Kovind, Governor of Bihar, Dr Charanjit Singh Atwal, Speaker Vidhan Sabha Punjab, Sohan Singh Thandal, Cabinet Minister of Punjab Government, Vijay Sampla, Union Minister of State, Rajesh Bagga Chairman SC / ST Commission Punjab and Prof Arun Kumar Grover, Vice Chancellor Punjab University were present on the occasion.