Earlier in the day, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had lashed out at the Centre over the issue at a Parliamentary party meeting.
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Kharge defending Rahul Gandhi said: “He was not sleeping”.
“It is only after BSP raises the demand for justice, and they enter the scene to play politics”, Mayawati added.
The Dalits, once known as the “untouchables” in India’s rigid centuries-old caste system, said the young men in the Gujarat video had not killed a cow, but that the animal died of other causes and was being taken for skinning, a traditional occupation of the caste group. Rahul Gandhi was in deep sleep, while Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was giving a lengthy reply on the issue. A 2,000-strong mob also attacked two state transport buses in Amreli. The state government is also providing medical care and compensation to the victims, he said. A special camp will be held to ensure they get benefits of all government schemes.
In Parliament, Mr Singh condemned the attacks and called on all political parties to help end discrimination against Dalits.
Rajnath, however, also said that “atrocities against Dalits are a social evil” and it must be taken up as a challenge to tackle them.
“You are saying Prime Minister should quit… he did not become the Prime Minister because of you, he became the Prime Minister by the mandate of people”, he said.
He said there were hundreds of such attacks on the Dalits between 1991 and 1999, during the Congress rule.
A police officer was killed on Tuesday during clashes in Una, 340 km (210 miles) from Gujarat’s main city, Ahmedabad, where the tannery workers were attacked.
Chief Minister Anandiben Patel met Balu Sarvaiyya who, along with his family members, was flogged by gau rakshaks on July 11 in Una in Somnath district but there was little respite on the streets where anger was directed at the authorities.
The Congress members were not satisfied with the Home Minister’s reply and staged a walkout.
Members, including Congress floor leader Mallikarjun Kharge, tried to raise the issue a couple of times. RSS is trying for dalit-mukt Bharat.
There has been partial response to the bandh call given by Dalit Panther and other organizations in some pockets of Gujarat, mainly in Saurashtra region, but that too not at all places of Saurashtra.
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In the Rajya Sabha, where the BJP does not have a majority, the angry Opposition did not accept the government silence and the House was adjourned shortly after it convened.
