New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Friday condemned the Congress for playing “selective politics” on Dalits and alleged that the opposition party wants to create division in society by spreading “falsehood” to gain power.
This came after the Congress stepped up its attack on the BJP over the alleged suicide of an IPS officer in Haryana and claimed that crimes against Dalits and other weaker sections of the society are on the rise under the current dispensation.
This politics of intimidating and suppressing marginalised groups poses a serious threat to democracy, the opposition party also said.
Hitting back, Meghwal, a senior BJP leader, accused the Congress of playing “selective politics” and said the opposition party does not utter a word when a Dalit is subjected to atrocities in Karnataka.
“Khagen Murmu is a sitting (BJP) MP and a tribal leader. He was beaten up… He is admitted to a hospital.
“Rahul Gandhi is also the Leader of Opposition (LoP) (in the Lok Sabha). He doesn’t say a word on this,” Meghwal said.
“Rahul Gandhi is playing selective politics. We condemn it,” the minister, who belongs to the Dalit community, told PTI Videos.
The Congress wants to “create divisions, spread confusion and falsehood, and through these, the opposition party wants to come to power,” Meghwal alleged.
He, however, claimed that the opposition party’s “politics of lies” will not succeed as Prime Minister Narendra Modi government has taken several measures for the welfare of Dalits and other sections of society without any discrimination.
“The Congress had spread lies by saying that the reservation will come to an end. But the politics of lies does not work again and again,” the minister added.
In a post on X in Hindi, Gandhi said that the suicide of IPS officer Y Puran Kumar in Haryana is a symbol of deepening social poison which is crushing humanity in the name of caste.
“When an IPS officer has to endure humiliation and oppression because of his caste, then imagine in what conditions an ordinary Dalit citizen must be living,” the LoP added.
He further claimed that the killing of Hariom Valmiki in Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli, the insult to Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and now Kumar’s death are incidents that show that injustice against the deprived classes has reached its peak, he claimed.
A 71-year-old lawyer, Rakesh Kishore, tried to hurl a shoe at CJI Gavai in the courtroom earlier this week to protest his alleged remarks about Lord Vishnu and the Sanatan Dharma.
“The hatred and Manuvadi ideology of the BJP-RSS have filled the society with venom. Dalits, tribal people, backward classes and Muslims are gradually losing hope for justice.
“This struggle is not just of Puran ji’s, it is of every Indian who believes in the Constitution, equality and justice,” the Congress leader said in his post.
Citing the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said between 2013 and 2023, there was a 46 per cent increase in crimes against Dalits and crimes against Adivasis rose by 91 per cent during the period.
“Caste discrimination against an IPS officer in Haryana, the harassment of Hariom Valmiki, the attack on the CJI and the BJP mindset justifying it, and the atrocities against elderly Dalit woman Kamla Devi Raigar in Sawai Madhopur district of BJP-ruled Rajasthan… All these recent incidents are not just isolated events, but a dangerous manifestation of the RSS-BJP’s feudal mindset,” Kharge said in a post on X in Hindi.
Slamming Kharge over his remarks, Meghwal accused the Congress president of making such statements due to his party pursuing “politics of division and appeasement”.
“We condemn it,” the Union minister said.
Meghwal said the per capita income of “Dalit society” has increased since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to the helm in 2024.
“It’s Prime Minister Modi who gave pucca houses to Dalits who were living in ‘kaccha’ (thatched) houses before 2014. It’s Prime Minister Modi who gave them cooking gas and grains. He is not discriminating (against anyone),” the minister said, and asked Kharge to look at the government data. PTI PK PK KSS KSS
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