Of late, protests have been turning really violent (“9 dead as Dalit protests over SC/ST Act rock north India”, April 3). The situation always seems to go out of hand, beyond the control of law-enforcement agencies. Are our State administrators so naive that they expect every big protest to pass off peacefully? Even unaided households take all precautions when they smell a problem in their locality. It is a wonder how fully equipped state machineries are always caught napping.
Sivamani Vasudevan,
Chennai
Dalit anger is justifiable because despite the provisions in the SC/ST Act, the community is vulnerable to frequent attacks by caste Hindus. Thus the fear that dilution of the provisions of the Act will only lead to more attacks and suppression of their rights is not unfounded. But protests are justifiable, not violence.
K.R. Srinivasan,
Secunderabad
If the government was convinced that the Supreme Court order amounted to abrogation of Dalit rights, it should have filed a review petition instantly instead of adopting a ‘wait and watch’ policy. To what extent the rights of Dalits will be compromised by the court order could form the subject of a nuanced debate based on statistics and ground realities. But unfortunately, political parties without exception look for an advantage instead of examining the real merit of an issue like this. Every issue is viewed from the prism of vote bank politics.
R. Ravichandran,
Chennai
