Modi government anti-Dalit: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi, Aug 9 : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the government's anti-Dalit mindset became clear when Prime Minister Narendra Modi rewarded with re-employment a judge who diluted an act that sought to deter atrocities against the marginalized.
He said the Bharatiya Janata Party and the governments it led at the Centre and in state had no space for Dalits in their hearts.
"If Modiji had space for Dalits in his heart, then the policies for Dalits would have been different," Gandhi said. The Congress leader was addressing a protest rally by Dalits and tribals at Janatar Mantar here.
Gandhi said when Modi was the Gujarat Chief Minister he wrote in a book that "Daliton ko safai karne se anand milta hai" (Dalits feel happy when they do cleaning work).
"This is his (Modi's) ideology," Gandhi said.
He said the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was brought by the Congress when his father Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister.
"But that was allowed to be diluted by Modiji. And the judge who diluted the act was given a promotion," he said, referring to the appointment of Justice A.K. Goel as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Chairman
Justices Goel and U.U. Lalit had in a March 20 ruling laid down stringent safeguards, including provisions for anticipatory bail and a "preliminary enquiry" before registration of a case under the act, citing instances of its abuse for political or personal reasons.
The ruling angered Dalits. On July 6, Justice Goel retired from the Supreme Court. On the same day, he was appointed the NGT chairman.
The government, however, made an amendment to the 1989 act that overturned the Supreme Court ruling and restored the provision for immediate arrest of an accused. The amendment was passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Gandhi in his speech said it was not enough to protect the interests of the Dalits in the country. He said wherever the BJP was in government, Dalits were being "beaten up and suppressed".
Pointing out the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a University of Hyderabad PhD student, the Congress leader said Dalits were crushed if they tried to advance in life.
"We don't want an India where Dalits are suppressed. We want an India where everyone grows. "His (Modi's) thinking is anti-Dalit... The entire country will stand up against him, the BJP and the RSS."
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
