Anglo Indians urge Centre to nominate its members to Lok Sabha

The Anglo Indian community today appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take urgent steps to end the "inordinate delay" in nominating representatives of its community to the Lower House of Parliament.
"It is more than 10 months now after the constitution of the 16th Lok Sabha. The four lakhs Anglo-Indian community scattered all over the country are struggling for their existence and face several disabilities.
They have been denied representation in Lok Sabha, a facility provided by the generous framers of our sacred Constitution as per Article 331," the Federation of Anglo-Indian Associations in India said here.
Federation President Charles Dias said a sizable number of Anglo-Indians still live in "unfavourable living conditions and their voice has to be heard in Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies through their nominated representatives."

Noting that the facility of the nomination of Anglo Indian representatives was extended with the 109th Constitutional Amendment passed by the Parliament in 2009, with effect from 2010 to 2020, Dias said the Gujarat government with Modi as Chief Minister had approved the Amendment.
"The delay in nomination is not only improper but a cruelty to a weak minority. I request the Prime Minister and the concerned leaders of the NDA to help the Anglo-Indian community get their representatives nominated without further delay," Dias said.

"The Prime Minister has stated that the minorities in the country will be protected and they will not be discriminated. Home Minister Rajnath Singh has stated that he will go to any extent to protect minorities. If they are sincere in their statements, they have to show it in actions," he told PTI.

Meanwhile, Congress Whip in the Lok Sabha K C Venugopal took potshots at the Modi government on the issue, saying the Prime Minister's mantra of minimum government and maximum governance "undermines the basic principles" of a democratic society.
"This is very much evident in the delay in nominating the two Anglo-Indian representatives to Lok Sabha," Venugopal said.