http://timesofindia
Rahul's visit to dalit riot victims a wake-up call for Hooda
Subodh Ghildiyal, TNN, Apr 30, 2010, 03.28am IST
NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi on Thursday reached out to dalit families
which suffered at the hands of Jat rioters in Mirchpur in Hisar,
promising that stringent action would be taken against the guilty.
Unannounced to the state government, Rahul's visit to the village
where two persons including a polio afflicted girl were killed when
rioters set fire to dalit houses on April 21 is in line with his focus
on SCs/STs. However, for second-term chief minister Bhupinder Singh
Hooda, whose tenures have been riddled with serious dalit atrocities
starting with infamous Gohana carnage, it is seen as a "wake-up call".
Skipping Parliament on Thursday, Rahul reached Mirchpur around
afternoon and spent around an hour with victims which included the
family of Tarachand who along with daughter Suman were killed by the
rampaging mob.
AICC general secretary and Union minister Prithviraj Chavan, who
accompanied him, said, "The visit was kept a complete surprise so that
Rahul could get a first hand picture of the issue."
The victims accused the administration of apathy. As Rahul sat
listening to them, they repeated their demand to be rehabilitated
elsewhere. Only two days back, CM Hooda visited the village and
assured the victims of police safety when they sought to be settled in
a new place.
It is unlikely to make a good impression about the Congress regime.
Rahul's visit may dent the impression that presence of his son
Deepender among young MPs gives Hooda an added layer of immunity.
Rahul's decision to go unannounced may have been to win the confidence
of SC victims after reports that they were facing a hostile
administration and the backdrop of recurring violence against dalits.
The Hisar riots have set a few heads in Congress thinking. For the
party, which experimented by putting a Jat at the helm, the perception
of the state being lenient on the dominant community vis-a-vis SCs is
not encouraging. The party has been an umbrella of social groups under
non-Jat patriarch Bhajan Lal and the threat of a restive dalit
community which is also big in numbers and socially assertive can risk
the party's tried and tested social combination.
It is significant that parties identified with Jat community like INLD
have protested Mirchpur riots. Somewhere, they may see an opening in
recurring cases of violence.
The tricky bit is that after a perception that the government was
light on the strong groups, action against Jat rioters now can rub the
community the wrong way. INLD's aggression may be aimed at trapping
the Congress between Jats and dalits.
As pressure mounts on Hooda for remedial action, the dissident group
may wadeinto the intra-party politics. A leader said the failure of
administration to enforce the rule of law was symptomatic of the CM's
lose grip.
INFORMATION OVERLOAD?
Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to ZESTMedia-digest@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/
PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com
TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:-
If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to ZESTCaste-subscribe@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/
Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/
No comments:
Post a Comment