Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat of promoting a model of injustice and oppression against Dalit and tribal communities and vowed to amplify the voice of the victims. Rahul Gandhi released a video of his interaction with a delegation from Gujarat, including those affected by the 2016 Una flogging case (X/RahulGandhi)
Sharing a video of his interaction with a delegation from Gujarat, including those affected by the 2016 Una flogging case, the Congress leader lamented that the victims in the flogging case were still waiting for justice.
Gandhi’s interaction came against the backdrop of the March 17 ruling by a special court in Gujarat’s Gir Somnath district, sentencing five persons to five years’ imprisonment. The court also acquitted 35 others for the July 11, 2016, attack, when over 40 men from an upper caste community stripped and flogged four Dalit men for skinning dead cattle, alleging they had killed the cow. The brutal assault was recorded on a mobile phone and triggered massive outrage across the country.
“About 10 years ago, the Una incident shook the entire nation. Some Dalit youths were publicly stripped and brutally beaten. I stood with their families at that time. But it is deeply unfortunate that even after a decade, they have not received justice, nor have their wounds healed; instead, the situation has worsened,” Gandhi said in a post accompanying his video on YouTube.
“The victims of Una are still awaiting justice. This long wait for justice, over 10 years, is a grave injustice in itself. This is not just a matter of a few incidents, but a failure of a system where the voices of the weak are suppressed and the perpetrators are protected,” he added.
“As I listened to the delegation today, it became clear that instead of improving, the situation has become even more horrific…. Under the BJP government in Gujarat, the atmosphere of hatred, discrimination, and atrocities against Dalit and tribal communities has continued to deepen,” he said.
The delegation complained that the state government hadn’t kept its promises of assistance to the victims. “It has been 10 years, and not a single demand has been met. The police were released by the court, and we fear for our lives,” a family representative told Gandhi. Another member said he suffered 19 fractures after an attack by the mining mafia in the state, saying they had the support of high-ranking officials.