A two-day all-India backward classes delegates’ conference was held in New Delhi on Dec 6. Addressing the conference, Karpoori Thakur, fomer . Chief Minister of Bihar, said that there was a need for a strong backward classes movement to get their demands accepted by the Government, It was unfortunate that the Government was reluctant to put the B. P. Mandal Commission report before Parliament. In his presidential speech, Brahm Prakash, a former MP and former Chief Minister of Delhi, attacked the Government regarding the backward classes in the Central services. He appealed to the backward classes to unite if they wanted to “survive”. As part of this struggle a big rally would be organized in Delhi in March.
According to the conference spokesman, Surinder Verma, about 1,000 delegates from all over the country attended the conference. Some members of Parliament D. P. Yadav, Jaipal Singh Kashyap and Ram Nihare Rakesh also took part in the conference (Statesman, Dec. 7)
