Vote Out Hate Politics, Say Disability Rights Organisations in TN

Chennai: The Joint Action Committee of Persons with Disabilities against Communal and Hate Politics has called upon people to defeat the BJP and its allies in the ongoing general elections.

The appeal was released at a press conference held here on Thursday and was signed by over 22 representatives of various disabled rights organisations across Tamil Nadu.

The organisations slammed the Narendra Modi-led government for not keeping the promises it made during the 2014 election campaign. They also criticised the government for levying goods and services tax for assistive devices used by the differently abled people.

The insistence of Aadhaar card for all the citizens for the country, while the government has not done enough to implement the universal ID cards for the persons with disability, was also flayed.

Another government move that was taken well by the disability organisations was the removal of SLRD (coach for the disabled) coaches in trains by the Indian Railways, which was a convenient mode of transportation of disabled people.

Also, the government’s reluctance to implement the Supreme Court’s order to fill vacancies and implement 4% reservation has left the disabled people unemployed, the press note said.

The organisation has come down heavily on the Prime Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for “continuously denigrating the disabled people and disability.”  They accused BJP’s ally and the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)-led state government for taking measures that are not in line with the recommendations of the UN convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

TMN Deepak, one of the coordinators of the organisation, told NewsClick that, “In the Chapter II, sub section 3 of the Right to Persons with Disabilities Act, it promises not to discriminate persons with disabilities unless the omission is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. The word proportionate has not been defined in the Act, which shall nullify the purpose of the Act”.