Only a handful of MPs make it to House debate on Dalit issues

NEW DELHI: Eight out of every nine parliamentarians on Thursday skipped a crucial Lok Sabha debate on alleged persecution of Dalits, an issue that has sparked a

NEW DELHI: Eight out of every nine parliamentarians on Thursday skipped a crucial Lok Sabha debate on alleged persecution of Dalits, an issue that has sparked a political slugfest between a combined opposition and the BJP-led government at the Centre.

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The proceedings, which started behind schedule, did not attract more than 60-65 MPs at any time during the five-hour debate and the attendance rose marginally only when home minister Rajnath Singh spoke on the issue.

The biggest embarrassment for the BJP came when minister of state Arjun Ram Meghwal was absent when his name was announced to address the House. Junior minister for parliamentary affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy tried to defuse the awkward situation as a “chhoti ghatna” (small issue). Almost five minutes into the Opposition’s protests, Meghwal rushed in.

In the 540-member House, the ruling BJP has 280 members excluding the speaker. The opposition parties, that had demanded, the debate did not fare any better.

The debate was held against a backdrop of mounting opposition criticism of the government over what they said was rising incidents of atrocities on Dalits and other lower caste people under the NDA government.

Opposition parties are also trying to pin down the BJP in poll-bound states such as Punjab and Uttar Pradesh where Dalits form a sizeable chunk of the electorate and could decide the results in many constituencies. Senior UP BJP leader Brij Pal Teotia and his aides suffered serious bullet wounds when gunmen opened fire at his car with automatic weapons on Delhi’s outskirts. Teotia is said to be in a critical condition.

Rajnath Singh, who admitted to atrocities on Dalits, mounted a spirited defense of the government in response to Congress’ chief whip Jyotirad it ya Scindia’s charge that a “climate of fear” has been created in the country of 20 crore Dalits.

“We have to accept the truth that the atrocities against Dalits are going on. We have to stop it and this is a challenge for all of us,” the home minister said, regretting that the House had to discuss the issue even 70 years after Independence.

Countering the opposition’s charge of not doing enough for Dalits, he said, “What you could not do in 55 years, our government did in last two years.”

He said the problem will not be solved just by accusing the Centre.

“If anyone says we have made a Dalit Speaker (Meira Kumar) of Lok Sabha, it is not right. They have come in their own rights.”

He also said, “The Congress never had a Dalit president. We had one.” He was referring to former BJP president Bangaru Laxman.

Information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu and food minister Ram Vilas Paswan also intervened in the debate.

“You did everything possible to humiliate BR Ambedkar, the messiah of Dalits”, Paswan, a Dalit leader, told Congress MPs who protested vociferously.

Jyotiraditya Scindia said a Dalit becomes a victim of a crime every 18th minute and three Dalit women are raped and two Dalits murdered every day.

“The ‘fringe’ has become the centre and the centre has become the ‘fringe’. The government is protecting such elements otherwise it would have taken action against them,” he said, days after four Dalits were publicly thrashed in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat by cow protection activists.

Opposition MPs also attacked the government over the suicide of Dalit student Rohit Vemulla in Hyderabad University.

During the first three hours, only four union ministers — Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Ramkripal Yadav, Harshvardhan and Hansraj Ahir -- were present in the House. In the Congress bench, chief whip Jyotiraditya Scindia, KV T homas, KC Venugopal and a few leaders were sitting.

“As the (monsoon) session will end on Friday, many MPs left Delhi to head back to their constituencies on Thursday,” said an MP in defence.