Caste tags pasted on police candidates in MP: Rahul Gandhi assails BJP, says it is an assault on constitution

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday lashed-out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the candidates appearing for the post of police constable were labelled with their respective castes on their chest during medical examinations at a district hospital in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar, triggering a massive debate on social media.

Taking to micro-blogging side, Rahul said that the casteist nature of the BJP government is an attack on the constitution.

"It is an ideology of BJP/RSS. This is the same ideology that would put a pot around Dalit's neck, a broom around the body and would not allow them to enter the temple. We will defeat this ideology," Rahul said in a tweet.

pic.twitter.com/ycqt1nEp0E

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 30, 2018

An inquiry has been ordered after photos showed aspirants for the post of police constables had their caste categories written on their bare chests.

Photographs in various newspapers showed aspirants with "SC" (Scheduled Caste), "ST" (Scheduled Tribe) and "G" (General) marked with sketch pens on candidates chests.

Dhar Superintendent of Police Virendra Singh said that he had ordered an inquiry into the incident, to be conducted by a deputy SP rank officer.

SC/ST candidates are given some exceptions with regard to height and health parameters required for constables. “It was done to avoid any misunderstanding while measuring the height of candidates belonging to reserved categories,” police officers said.  

District civil surgeon S Khare expressed his shock and promised to take action against the medical board.

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale condemned the incident where the candidates for the post of Police Constable were labelled with their respective castes on their chest in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar and termed it an insult to the SC/ST community.

"Such an incident is an insult to SC/ ST. Appropriate action should be taken against officials responsible for it," said Athawale.

Athawale further said that he will write to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the incident.