Lashing out at the Centre for massive dalit protests across the country that left four persons dead in Madhya Pradesh, Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi today held the State responsible for allowing the situation to reach a boiling point.
"Soon after the Supreme Court gave the ruling on the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Centre should have filed a review petition but it chose to look the other way," Chaturvedi told the media here on Monday.
"A review petition was assured after other political parties raised questions and when protests started intensifying," she said. Observing that a sense of insecurity is natural among deprived sections, Chaturvedi blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party Government for showing disinterest in engaging dalit bodies in dialogue and lack of adequate arrangements during the nationwide bandh.
She said that the party supported demand by dalits and described protests as an essential part of democracy but made it clear that the Congress did not support violence and hoped that protesters would let their concerns be known to the Centre in a non-violent manner.
Replying to a query, the Congress spokesperson said that the onus of maintaining law and order lay with the regime. However, she affirmed that appropriate action should be taken against perpetrators of violence.
In response to a query over the misuse of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, she said that such claims should be backed by figures, and thus the necessity for a review petition.