Congress accuses BJP of being 'anti-Dalit', says people will show exit door to Modi govt

Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, in a statement issued after BJP's Dalit MP Udit Raj joined the Congress, said the "intrinsic mindset" of the BJP–RSS is to follow an unabashed policy of "persecution" and  "prosecution" against the weaker sections such as Dalits and Aadivasis.

"The last 5 years of Modi government has witnessed an anti–Dalit and anti-Aadivasi bias like never before, which has led to brazen attack on our Constitution. People have now made up their mind to show the exit door to PM Modi and his oppressive government," he said.

He alleged "dilution" of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, is a consequence of this "deep-rooted" prejudice.

In 2018, the Supreme Court had issued a slew of guidelines to protect public servants and private employees from arbitrary arrests under the Atrocities Act. The court directed that public servants can only be arrested with the written permission of their appointing authority.

This was seen as dilution of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, which led to protests across the country.

However, the government later brought in an amendment to nullify the apex court's order.

Surjewala cited various incidents of violence against Dalits to highlight the BJP's alleged "anti-Dalit" mindset.

"Political apathy, social oppression, economic negligence, violating rights of weaker sections, injustice, dividing society, creating social discord and hampering peace and harmony have become the trademark of Modi government's policies in the past five years," Surjewala alleged.

Therefore, Indian people will resoundingly reject the BJP and its policies, he said.