'Sukhu mama manda nahin': Protestors target CM demanding 'backlog' govt jobs for blind people

Shimla: A group of blind people on Monday hit the streets against the Himachal Pradesh government here, demanding that the backlog in government jobs for visually impaired people be filled.

The protestors, who sat on a dharna in the morning hours blocking the Sanjauli-Chotta Shimla road, made Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu the primary target of their ire and directed caustic slogans at him.

"Sukhu mama manda nahin, rajniti kuch janta nahin" (Sukhu uncle is not listening, he does not understand politics); jungli murga kisne khaya, Sukhu ne khaya (who ate the jungle fowl, Sukhu did); samosa ka bhooka kaun hai, Sukhu hai, samose ki inquiry kisne karai, Sukhu ne karai (who wants eat a samosa, Sukhu does, who ordered an inquiry into samosa, Sukhu did)" rent the air at the protest site.

The controversy around the grey jungle fowl and 'samosa' incidents have been subjects of criticism of Sukhu by the opposition BJP.

The CM was criticised by the BJP for allegedly encouraging his associates to eat "Jungli Murga" -- an endangered species -- during a dinner event.

The samosa row refers to an incident when boxes of snacks were mistakenly served to the CM's security staff last year in October, instead of him. The incident took on disproportionate significance following a CID probe that termed the mix-up an "anti-government" act.

Notably, Monday's protest also used language similar to a protest against BJP's Jai Ram Thakur when he was the chief minister.

In March 2022, agitated government employees demanding the restoration of the old pension scheme had used the "mama manda nahin" slogan.

"Joiya mama manda nahin (Jai mama does not listen), "Joyia mama darta hai, police ko aage karta hai" (Jai uncle is scared, he is shielding himself with the help of police)" were common in the protests.

At the protest on Monday, Himachal Blind Persons Association president Rajesh Thakur said, "We have been demanding for the filling of backlog posts for blind people for a long time and have been sitting on dharna for the past few days but we are not being heard.

He said that no recruitment to the posts have been made since 1995, and demanded that long-pending backlog quota should also be considered for the jobs.

The state government should fulfill the backlog and help blind people in becoming financially independent, another member SP Mehta told the PTI. Blind people have been raising this demand for over a year and a half now.

The association has also been demanding that the government should provide them with reservations and promotions as promised in a notification issued in 2021 and also extend the retirement age of all specially-abled persons to 60 years.

Talking to mediapersons, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said the demands of the blind persons' community is a long-pending issue and has been going on since the BJP was in power.

Sukhu said they would be recruited to government posts wherever available and added that other avenues to get them jobs would also be considered.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued here, Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment Department Ashish Singhmar said that all departments across the state have been directed to take prompt action for filling the posts reserved for persons with disabilities.