Dalit trade body chooses to enter UP post-Mayawati

About seven months after the country?s first Dalit government, headed by Mayawati, was voted out of power in Uttar Pradesh, Dalit entrepreneurs from across the country are congregating for the first time in state capital Lucknow on Sunday, under the umbrella of Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Cites difference in ideology with the former chief minister; to launch state chapter today

When asked why DICCI did not come to UP during Mayawati’s rule, DICCI mentor Chandrabhan Prasad told FE, ?Mayawati did not have any economic clarity. She was more interested in addressing the past; the sufferings of Dalits, building memorials in honour of icons, etc. But we are more interested in addressing the future. We want to become part of the market economics and not be driven by the bullock-cart mentality.?

He added, ?Generally in north India, businesses are not as vibrant as in the coastal belts. So it took us time to get in touch with Dalit entrepreneurs here. As of now, we have as many as 100 members in the UP chapter, all of who have an annual turnover of at least R1 crore and who have clean books.?

However, another member of DICCI was more blunt. ?We were not allowed entry into Uttar Pradesh earlier. Mayawati did not like the idea of any other Dalit body in the state. She saw us as a potential threat to her politics. But we do not have any political ideology; we work with any government,? he said, not wishing to be identified.

Espousing the theory of Dalits becoming ?job givers instead of being job seekers?, DICCI openly advocates FDI in retail. ?We must break the old vicious business chain of wholesellers and middlemen in the mandi system. ?FDI lao Manu bhagao?, is our motto,? said Prasad on the eve of the launch of the UP Chapter of DICCI in Lucknow. ?Government jobs are no longer the greatest career option any longer. We need to promote entrepreneurship in the country as a career option, as India needs more business units now,? he added.

After the launch of the UP chapter, DICCI would be launching state chapters in Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

?We want to become a pan-India organisation and work along with other industry bodies like the CII and FICCI to espouse the cause of the industry and entrepreneurs. Unlike political parties championing the cause of the Dalits, we do not demand any concessions for ourselves, we just want to establish a connection with the rest of the world,? added Rajesh Paswan, coordinator, DICCI (north India).

This article was first uploaded on October fourteen, twenty twelve, at thirty-seven minutes past one in the night.