New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday alleged that Dalits were being oppressed more in the BJP-ruled states and accused the Centre of treating the backward classes as "second class citizens".
Taking to Twitter, Kharge rued that Dalits, tribals and backward are "double oppressed" in "double engine" governments. He said that crimes against Dalits have increased during the Narendra Modi-led government and cited the National Crime Records Bureau report that states that such crimes have increased by 29 per cent between 2013 to 2021. Along with this, he posted two news clippings about Dalit oppression from Gujarat in a span of five days.
The first incident occurred yesterday in Patan district, where some people allegedly chopped off a Dalit man's thumb and assaulted him after his nephew picked up a cricket ball while watching the match at the school playground. In the second incident a Dalit man was allegedly beaten up by a group of upper caste men for wearing good clothes and goggles. The incident took place in Banaskantha district on June 2 and an FIR was lodged against seven people in this connection.
"These incidents of Gujarat are very disturbing. The exploited sections of the society have been made second class citizens by the Modi government!" he wrote.
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Kharge's statements come a week after his son and Karnataka rural development and panchayati raj minister Priyank Kharge said that Dalits, tribals and backward classes are feeling like second grade citizens. He said that the minorities are feeling insecure in the country. Earlier, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged of discrimination faced by Muslims saying whatever was happening to the Muslims today had happened to Dalits in 1980s.
