Hundreds of Indian students facing ‘deportation’ from Canada stage protest
Gurdaspur, October 12 : Accusing the Badal government of unleashing a rein of terror against Dalits in the state, Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh has demanded stern action against those responsible for recent attacks on the community.
Captain Amarinder’s remarks came in the backdrop of the gruesome murder of a Dalit youth in Mansa and the fact that Dalits continue to flee Sangrur as the tension triggered there by last week’s violence refuses to abate.
The Punjab Congress president has directed his party workers to extend all possible help to the aggrieved family in Mansa, and also to engage with the Dalit community in Mansa and Sangrur to rebuild their confidence.
Dalits in the state are feeling extremely insecure and fear for their safety under the SAD rule, said the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPC) chief, expressing shock and concern at the situation. These developments can have serious consequences for the future of Punjab, he warned, adding that the Badal government was meticulously destroying the secular character and peaceful environment of the state.
The Dalit community is angry at the gory murder of a Dalit youth, Sukhchain Singh, allegedly at the hands of the Badal-controlled liquor mafia, Captain Amarinder pointed out, citing media reports. “With the state’s liquor mafia being backed by the Akalis, the Badal government now stands completely exposed for its anti-Dalit policies,” said the PPCC leader.
He cited media reports saying that 21-year-old Sukhchain of Gharanghna village in Mansa was mercilessly attacked and tortured to death by certain people having alleged high level connections in SAD. The youth’s limbs were also chopped off.
Captain Amarinder referred to the media reports to point out that two of the accused – Hardip Singh and his brother Bitta Singh – are nephews of Gharanghna sarpanch Sardool Singh, who is the son of Niranjan Singh, Punjab CM’s driver.
“It is clear that these atrocities are being committed against Dalits in Punjab, particularly in the Malwa belt, by those having the patronage of the SAD leadership,” said Captain Amarinder.
It is a matter of shame as well as concern that BJP Punjab President Vijay Sampla, who is a Dalit himself continues to remain a mute spectator and has failed to react even once to the excesses being committed by his party’s alliance partner, the SAD, said Captain Amarinder.
Punjab Congress leaders meanwhile pointed out that the murder of Sukhchain was not an isolated instance of Dalit killing. “Almost a year back, a 27-year-old Dalit man Bhim Tank was attacked with sharp-edged weapons at ruling SAD leader and liquor baron Shiv Lal Doda ’s farmhouse in Abohar. Bhim’s limbs had also been chopped off and he later succumbed to his injuries at an Amritsar hospital,” they pointed out.
In Sangrur, where upper caste landlords supported by local SAD leaders had targeted Dalits in Jalaur week over the issue of cultivation of common land, about two dozen Dalit families have fled in out of fear,” the leaders said, adding that the village Dalits were being continuously harassed by the upper caste community with the complete backing of the police and the administrative machinery.
