New Delhi: The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC), under the leadership of its president Ajay Maken, on Wednesday held a massive demonstration near Parliament House in order to protest against the rising atrocities against dalits in the country.
The party also highlighted the failure of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre in properly putting up the case allegedly before the Supreme Court, which had recently diluted the provisions under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
The Act was passed when Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister in 1989 to protect the SCs and STs from atrocities. The demonstrators assembled at the Jai Singh Road, near the YMCA, were to proceed to Parliament House, but they were stopped in between by Delhi police.
Addressing the demonstrators, Mr Maken said that the Narendra Modi government was trying to destroy the 1989 law, but Congress president Rahul Gandhi has given a call to fight for the honour and to protect the lives of the dalits across the country as atrocities on the community have been mounting under the BJP rule.
The city Congress chief said that whenever atrocities were committed on the dalit community, Mr Gandhi had raised his voice against them inside and outside Parliament House.
He said that the Congress under the leadership of Mr Gandhi, was committed to protect the rights and honour of the dalit community, by standing with them in their trying times.
Mr Maken said that the Congress party will hold 25 public meetings in the next 10 days to highlight the BJP government’s designs of how it was trying to finish off the law which had been passed to protect the interests of dalit in the country.
All-India Congress Committee SC department chairman Dr Nitin Raut said ever since the BJP has come to power, it was constantly harassing the dalit community. He said the atrocities committed on the dalit have touched a record high in the country due to the lackadaisical approach of the Modi government toward the dalit community.
All-India Congress general secretary P.L. Punia said that the Modi Government at the Centre has failed to implement the programmes and policies for dalit welfare framed during the Congress regime.
He also said that the dalit and the poor were now living in dread as the Modi government has failed to stop the mounting atrocities being committed on them across the country.
Besides Mr Maken, other prominent leaders present were former MPs Sajjan Kumar, Mahabal Mishra and Ramesh Kumar, former Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Arvinder Singh Lovely, former city ministers Haroon Yusuf and Dr Narendra Singh, All-India Congress Committee secretaries Naseeb Singh, Tarun Kumar and S.P.Singh, former legislators Surinder Kumar, Jai Kishan, Charan Singh Khandera and Veer Singh Dhingan, all district presidents, Chattar Singh, Bhram Yadav, Mahmood Zia, Seva Dal chief organiser Dineshwar Tyagi, Municipal Councillors Mukesh Goel, Abhishek Dutt and Rinku.
