Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will on Thursday visit the people from the Dalit community, who were stripped and thrashed by “gau rakshaks” or self styled cow protectors in Gujarat’s Una last week-an incident that had widespread ramification with violent protests and national outrage.
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“We demanded from him that those who were involved in the incident should be given exemplary punishment and kept behind bars for their entire life or else they will once again do this to someone else”, he said.
Gandhi later left for Rajkot city, the nerve centre of the Saurashtra region, where he was to call on Dalit youngsters undergoing treatment after their suicide attempts in the government Civil Hospital in protest against the July 11 incident by a cow protection vigilante group.
“They propagate false claims and orchestrate unsubstantiated charges against the opposition, especially the Congress”, said Gandhi. He is scheduled to meet family members of the victims. “Rahul ji is a very sensitive person and gives prominence to the issues concerning the Dalits, Adivasis and minorities”, he added. She told them that the government has taken all measures to ensure that the victims get justice. “You seemed to have made up your mind to walk out”, he said before reeling out figures of such cases during the UPA government to make his point.
On the issue of job creation, Mrs Gandhi said the government in the past two years sought to create a “bubble” of achievement.
“He (Rahul) also asked questions about issues and discrimination being faced by us in our village”.
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Jitu said: “We don’t want money, but we wish support for sustenance and livelihood”. Rahul spent almost 40 minutes with Balu Sarvaiya and his family members at their home in Mota Samadhiyala village of Una taluka and also had a cup of tea with them. The protests worsened yesterday as seven youth attempted suicide and violence and arson spread to various areas in the state. In a series of tweets, he said that he met the parents of the victims who claim to be oppressed in “Modi’s Gujarat” everyday.
