Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said there was no place for Dalits and the poor in today’s India. “Dalits are being oppressed and it is happening across the country and not just in Uttar Pradesh,” he alleged.
Mr. Gandhi was speaking from a dhaba on the Haryana-Uttar Pradesh border, where some of the victims of the caste violence in Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh were brought with the help of local Congress leaders.
Mr. Gandhi was denied permission to visit the victims Saharanpur, as well as the district hospital where some are being treated.
“State goverment has failed”
“Rohit Vemula was oppressed and every day millions of people in this country are being oppressed. The government’s responsibility is to protect the citizens of this country, but is this government doing its job properly,” he said.
“I wanted to go to Shabbirpur but I was stopped. The local administration denied my request to go to the village. It also refused my request to go the district hospital and meet the injured. I am going back after the local administration assured me that they would themselves accompany me to Shabbirpur,” he said.
“The State government has failed on the law and order front. The national government is spreading fear in every section. The poor, Dalits, minorities, farmers are being oppressed through fear. This government listens to only the rich. And this is not how a country like India could be run,” he said.
“Kashmir is burning”
He raise the issue of violence Jammu and Kashmir and said that “every time this (sic) is peace in J&K, it benefits India and every time there is violence in J&K it benefits Pakistan and Modi government is doing this.”
“J&K is burning right now. We brought peace in the State. Now Modi government is providing foothold to the anti-national forces in the State, he added.
Prohibitory orders
Prohibitory orders have been enforced in Saharanpur and its borders have been sealed. When The Hindu contacted official sources, they said prohibitory orders would be lifted once normality returns to the place.
The Saharanpur authorities have denied permission to former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav as well.
Borders closed
Sources in the Congress earlier told PTI that Mr. Gandhi left for Shabbirpur, the centre of the caste-based violence, by road on Saturday morning after meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The district authorities had said he would be stopped on the border.
Violence first broke out in Saharanpur about 40 days ago after a procession to mark Ambedkar Jayanti. On May 5, a person was killed and 15 people were injured in communal clashes. About a dozen police vehicles were set ablaze and 12 policemen were injured on May 9.
On May 23, another person was shot dead and two others were wounded, following which the government suspended the SSP and district magistrate and transferred the divisional commissioner and the deputy inspector general of police.
Sources: The Hindu
