Atrocities on SC, ST communities increasing in Odisha, says Ramdas Athawale

BHUBANESWAR: Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Thursday expressed his concern for increasing atrocities on scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) in Odisha. He urged chief minister Naveen Patnaik to look into the matter.
He said Odisha has reported 3,115 atrocity cases in 2022-23. “It is not a good sign for a state to report a huge number of atrocity cases. He hoped that the chief minister will try to redress the problem of SC and ST people of the state, he added.
“Chief minister is our good friend. He was a Union minister during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. Though he is not in NDA now, his party MPs support us in Parliament to pass any bills. I know him very well. I request him to take necessary steps to reduce the atrocity on Dalits and Adivasis,” said Athawale.
He said inter-caste marriage should be promoted to connect the society. “Last year, 1,700 inter-caste marriages were solemnised in the state. Inter-caste marriage is needed to reduce casteism in the society. Steps should be taken to engage artists to create awareness in villages against casteism,” he added.
He said people including Dalits and upper castes in the society should stay united. “The conflict and misunderstanding between communities and castes should be ended. Naveen Patnaik is doing well as a chief minister, hope he should help Dalits in the state,” he added.
On the rumour of a meeting between Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Naveen Patnaik, Athawale, who is also the president of Republican of Party of India (RPI), said Naveen Patnaik will not go by the words of Nitish Kumar. “Nitish will face difficulties in Bihar in the coming days. The BJP is getting stronger there,” he added.
He further said NDA will get 350 MP seats in the upcoming general election. On early elections, he said, “There will be no early election, I think. early election is not a good idea,” he added.