Pawan Khera on Lateral Access Arrangements

New Delhi: Congress leader Pawan Khera on Tuesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party is “violating constitutional norms through the back door” by making appointments in the bureaucracy that do not provide representation to Dalits, Adivasis and backward classes.

The Modi government recruited 52 people through lateral entry between 2017 and 2021, with no representation for Dalits, Adivasis and backward classes, Congress party spokesperson Khera told IANS.

The Congress has criticised the Union Public Service Commission’s advertisement calling for recruitment of domain experts for the bureaucracy, alleging it was a ‘conspiracy’ by the BJP to deny the underprivileged community access to top government positions.

After a gruesome crime against two schoolgirls was reported in Maharashtra’s Badlapur district, leading to protests by locals, Khera mockingly expressed hope that the BJP would hold protests there too and demand the resignation of the state’s chief minister.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, crime against women is on the rise and the Modi government must respond to it, he said.

Khera said he could not comment on the other party’s manifesto as the National Conference in its manifesto had promised to abrogate Article 370 and make Jammu and Kashmir a state.

Regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Russia and a proposed visit to Ukraine, the Congress leader said he would make a stopover in Manipur, which would last only half an hour to an hour.

The prime minister is said to have denounced crimes against women and the unearthed news tapes in which the Manipur chief minister is allegedly heard “hatching a conspiracy,” Khera said.

Responding to a question about the nature of the investigation in the Kolkata rape and murder case, he said, “We will not comment if an investigation is underway. The investigation should be completed as soon as possible and criminals should be dealt with severely.”

Khera said he had not read the report when the Justice Hema Commission revealed that there was sexual exploitation in the Malayalam film industry, but it was a serious problem if something like this had happened.