PONDA: Governor Satya Pal Malik said the Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes and forest dwellers are the original habitants of the India. Due to some caste-based ruling in the country, they remained backward.
“However, after Independence due to efforts of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Ghandi their rights have been fully protected in the Constitution,” he said and called upon them to work hard and focus on their goals and achieve them.
He said, “In Dubai, I met a Pakistani, who said that because of Ambedkar and Gandhi, there is protection for STs in India. Nobody can dare to do injustice due to strict section in SC/ST Act. But in Pakistan, the landlords having vast lands are doing injustice to the downtrodden. Nobody dares to file complaint against them because there is no law to protect them.
He was speaking as chief guest at second Adivasi Vidhyarthi Sammelan organised by Director of Tribal Welfare in association with UTTA at Rajiv Ghandi, Kala Mandir at Ponda.
He said following the SC order, a Trust for construction of new Ram temple at Ayodhya will be formed. Malik said he would write to the Trust to depict all the tribal characters that helped Rama to gain victory over Ravana. He said, “When Rama’s wife Sita was kidnapped by Ravana, he took her to Sri Lanka and all the tribal and forest habitants helped Rama defeat Ravana. It was these people, who threaded the forest terrain and accompanied Rama to reach Sri Lanka to defeat Ravana.”
