Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that “the RSS and the BJP’s DNA is to keep Dalits at the bottom of Indian society” while his party blamed the NDA government for the violence that erupted across the country.
Addressing a joint press conference, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said the violent protests could have been avoided if the Centre had filed a review petition immediately to reverse the Supreme Court order on the Scheduled Castes and Schedules Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989 that diluted some of the existing provisions.
Rahul’s salute
Expressing his solidarity with the protesters, before the bandh turned violent in some parts, Mr. Gandhi tweeted in Hindi to say he saluted his Dalit brothers and sisters who came out on the streets for their rights.
“It is in the DNA of the RSS/BJP to keep Dalits at the lowest level in Indian society. Anyone who challenges this ideology is crushed with violence. Thousands of our Dalit brothers and sisters are today [Monday] on the streets demanding protection of their rights from the Modi government. We salute them”.
Holding the Centre responsible for the loss of lives and the damage to public property, Mr. Azad said the Congress does not approve of any form of violence but it could have been prevented if the government had taken quick action.
“If the Central government had taken steps after March 20 when we gave them a memorandum to file a review petition, there would have been no loss of life and property,” he said.
Mr. Kharge said the SC/ST Act, that was brought by the Rajiv Gandhi government, impacted 23% of India’s population but the government took the whole issue “lightly.”
The senior Congress leaders also alleged that atrocities on Dalits and minorities have been on the rise ever since the NDA came to power in 2014.
“An atrocity is committed against a Dalit every 12 minutes. These are not my figures but National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figures put the number of cases in 2016-17 at 40,811,” said Mr. Kharge.
“The Centre did not represent the case properly before the court,” Mr. Azad added.
