Attacks on dalits, Muslims on the rise: Cong.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Gadugu Gangadhar has criticised the attacks on dalits and Muslim minorities and said they were on the rise in the last four years after the BJP-led NDA formed government at the Centre.

Finding fault with the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for their silence on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the SC, ST (Atrocities Prevention) Act-1989, he alleged that the government’s influence on the judiciary increased over a period of time. He said that the ruling was an affront to the rights of the dalits.

The rule prevailed hitherto under the 1989 Act that if a dalit was attacked or insulted by other than any dalit person, first FIR must be registered, was diluted with the latest ruling, he said. He opined that the SCs and STs were feeling unsafe in the wake of the latest development.

Dubbing the BJP as anti-dalits, he said that it was silently watching all these to support caste Hindus. Gangadhar appealed to the Prime Minister to unconditionally involve in the episode to protect the dalit rights.