Sir,
I thank you for giving me this opportunity to participate in the debate
on atrocities on Dalits. I think this is a black day for the
people of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of
this country. After this Government came into power, atrocities on Dalits
have increased to such an extent as has never happened from the days of
our Independence. Gandhiji fought not only for the freedom of the
country but also fought for the freedom of SCs and STs, depressed
classes and minorities. These are the people who fought
for our freedom. Lakhs of people have given their life for our freedom
including Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsis, Sikhs and Jains. It is
not that India is meant for a single140 community
or a religion. It is meant for the people belonging to all the religions
existing before Independence in this160 country. At
the same time, Baba Saheb Ambedkar also fought for equality of the depressed
classes including the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. He fought with the
British for want of a separate electoral system for the SCs and STs and
to bring equality in this nation. But at last, under the able
guidance of Mahatma Gandhi, at the Round Table Conference, they agreed that
we have to have a multiple electoral system with reservations. Then Baba
Saheb Ambedkar agreed to it. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister
of India, after getting the guidance of Mahatma Gandhi, appointed Baba Saheb
Ambedkar as the Chairman of the Draft Committee of the Constitution of India.
Under
articles 14, 15 and 16 on280 Fundamental Rights, it
is clearly said that the citizens of India, whether a Hindu, a Muslim,
a Sikh or a Christian, should have equal rights to live and enjoy all
opportunities in India. The dream of Mahatma Gandhi was320 that
the last citizen should have equal opportunity socially, educationally and
economically with abolition of caste system. Today, Dalits
in India are in the grip of deep sense of fear and insecurity. Dalits
were confident that the Government led by the Indian National
Congress was always on their side fighting to defend their rights.
Dalits have no longer the same confidence in the BJP Government which does not
believe that the Dalits should be accorded the dignity as human beings.
Unfortunately, some of the weaker sections and Dalits who voted for the BJP due
to the magic of Modi are now420 realizing as to what has
happened to them. They are suppressed and they believe that they are not taken
care of by the BJP Government. Unfortunately, the Minister in the Union
Government, Gen. V.K. Singh compared them to dogs. What is this?480 As
per the Constitution, can he continue as Minister in this Government?
Do you still keep him as a Minister? Do you believe in democracy? Do you
believe in the Constitution of India? This is the way this Government is
functioning. It is very unfortunate.
Some
issues relating to Dalits came up in our country. Last year, Rohit Vemula, a
young Dalit scholar, was driven to commit suicide. Recently, in Andhra Pradesh,
three Dalits were tied to trees and thrashed for skinning a cow. A Dalit man
accused of stealing a wrist watch was stripped and beaten to560 death
by a mob at Kheri in Uttar Pradesh. I now mention the incidents that have
happened in the State of Gujarat. On 11th July, the Una incident took
place. It is reported that it took the 11th July Una incident and the national
outrage it caused for the police to arrest six similar vigilantes who had
attacked nine Dalits in Amreli district in the month of May. Going back to the
rule of Gujarat when Modi was the640 Chief Minister
from 2001 to date, the total number of crimes of attacks on Dalits registered
in Gujarat is 14,500. The annual average is 1,000 cases with at least
three cases daily in Gujarat, which has never happened in the history of
our country. The Dalit rights activists say that the sense of impunity spawns
from the fact that700 the conviction rate is as low as three to
five per cent. On the afternoon of May 22, a contingent of cow vigilantes
swooped down on a colony of Dalits in Rajula in SUVs and two-wheelers. Like in
Una, they carried staffs and knives. A couple of them had swords. The
vigilantes broke the hands and legs of the Dalits, pushed and kicked them
around, as told by a Dalit rights activist in the area.
These
are the issues which have to be taken note of. I think the Government
has to particularly take note of the fact that the800 number of
incidents of atrocity on Dalits in only one State of the country is three per
day. Since Modi has become the Prime Minister of this country, I think, the
people who are behind these incidents are emboldened and840 are
trying to encourage these kinds of atrocities in the whole of the country. This
is the way the Government is functioning. These incidents show that there is
no protection for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. All the
newspapers, whether it is the Times of India, the Hindustan
Times or the Hindu, have in detail established in the front page itself that
these kinds of atrocities never happened in this country
after Independence. So much of atrocities on Dalits never took place in
any regime. Only for the last two years these kinds of incidents have
been taking place. This is happening in this regime, which has been in
power for the last two years. Even when Shri Vajpayee was there, these960 things
never happened. There were not much of atrocities on Dalits, like rape
and killing of Dalits in this country.980 Now, I do not want
to speak more on Gujarat. But the fact has been clearly established
that there are three cases of atrocities on Dalits per day
in Gujarat. This is the situation in this country. How is the
Government protecting the people of this country? The population of SCs and STs
is 25 per cent. One-fourth of the population of this country is SCs and STs.
They are the backbone of this country. They are giving their sweat and blood
for the development of this country. They are the people who are really working
hard for the development of this country. Is it not the duty of the Government
to take care of these people? Where is democracy? Where is Constitution? What
is the meaning of democracy and Constitution if you are not protecting
these weaker sections of this country?1120
Going
back to the issue of Odisha, I had also visited there with a team.
Shrimati Sonia Gandhi had sent a team of delegates including me. We visited the
spot; we have seen practically what has happened on that day. We met the people
who were injured; we also met a lady who lost her 13-month old child. It is a
very sad situation in the village Gumudumaha. Some people had gone to collect
MGNREGA wages. They were coming back in auto-rickshaw on the same day from
Baliguda to Gumudumaha. They comprised five women, six men and a one-and-a-half-year-old
child. The auto-rickshaw had stopped at around 8 pm as road was damaged due to
heavy rains near a culvert from where the village was just 200 meters away.
Eleven men and women got down from the auto-rickshaw.1260 When
four women started walking down to their village and others were pushing the vehicle
to cross the culvert, heavy1280 firing started from the right
side of the auto-rickshaw. The firing was deadly. Five persons were killed and
six injured. They were all lying on the spot. People from the village
ran towards the spot hearing the gunshots. But the Special Operation Group
personnel did not allow them to reach the spot. The SOG personnel
surrounded the spot from 8 pm on 8th July to 9
am on 9th July and did not allow the injured persons to go for
treatment. The injured kept writhing in pain at the spot for 12 to 14 hours.
The Government should understand as to what was the attitude of the
police personnel. On 9.7.2016, the president of Pradesh Congress Committee
visited the spot1400 and extended some help to them.
Thereafter, Congress organized a bandh at Kandhamal. The Chairman of the
National Commission for Scheduled Tribes visited on 13.7.2016. On 14th
July, 2016, the Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Shri
P.L. Punia toured Kandhamal.1440 On 17th July, 2016, a six-member
Special Investigating Team of Human Rights Protection Cell visited Kandhamal.
On 19th July, 2016, a PCC delegation toured Kandhamal. I was also
part of that delegation. I know that the Government has utterly failed.
What was this Government doing when the police personnel had killed the
people? There was no cross-firing and no Naxalites were there. I
have visited the place and I have seen what happened there with my own
eyes. They were not treated as human beings in Odisha. I have
personally seen the place of this incident;1540 I
have seen the injuries; I have seen the affected people. The tribal
people in Odisha are not treated as human beings. Sir, I was very much
hurt on seeing the affected people there. The State Government has not taken
action against any officials who were responsible for this. It
is not the Naxalites who have killed these people.1596
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