Stir to continue till Dalit students get roll numbers, says AAP leader

Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, June 18

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) state affairs co-in charge and Delhi MLA, Raghav Chadha, said the party’s struggle against the post-matric scholarship scam would continue till the two lakhDalit students didn’t get their roll numbers.

Chadha on Friday visited Ludhiana to support AAP MLA and Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Saravjit Kaur Manuke and senior leader Manwinder Singh Giaspura, who were sitting on a hunger strike in protest against the scam.

He alleged that the Congress government had squandered crores of rupees in the scholarships of two lakh Dalit students and jeopardised the future of the students. “The intentions of the Captain government in regard with post-matric scholarship scam shows that it is anti-Dalit,” he said.

Chadha said that the AAP demands a case to be registered against Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and Social Welfare Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot under the SC/ST Act.

“The Captain government during his tenure has not only embezzled scholarship money but also embezzled crores of rupees in the procurement of vaccines and Fateh kits required for prevention of Covid,” he said.

He said the government had released some amount to the private colleges after the AAP raised its voice against the scam. However, the students will not be able to sit for their exams till the government releases the balance amount of Rs 1,539 crore, he said. Therefore, the AAP has decided to fight continuously at the state level till the Dalit students will be issued their roll numbers, he added.