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No will to stop Dalit atrocities |
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Sunday, 30 November 2003 |
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Social Welfare Minister Meira Kumar has made the nation an astounding promise - the Government will stop atrocities on Dalits by 2010. New provisions will be brought in and the laws will be given more teeth. What should we read into that? That atrocities have happened so far is because the governments were not duty-bound to stop them? And that we should brace for more atrocities until 2010 because that is the deadline the honourable minister has kindly set? As proof of her new resolve, Meira Kumar has also placed a “humble” request before the Union Home Minister to share all information on atrocities on Dalits with the ministry of welfare. Has that not been happening? Are government ministries not meant to share information that might interest or affect the other? Has the ministry of social welfare not kept a record? There is something terribly amiss here. And the consequences are before us, atrocities against Dalits and other weaker sections have been on the rise. There is a way to stop them or contain them to begin with. And it does not have to do with stronger laws or better exchange of information between government departments. It has to do with political will. During the months preceding and following the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the communal peace of Bihar and West Bengal took quite a few by surprise. The only secular people in north India, it was argued. Far from it. Communalism is not an epidemic that dies in Varanasi as it travels east and gets reborn only when it enters Assam; it runs through Bihar and Bengal, and quite an inflamed run it is. But the political rulers of Bihar and West Bengal — Laloo Yadav at that time and the Left Front — were determined not to allow communal flare-ups. They saw to it there wasn’t any. We don’t have to wait until 2010, Ms Kumar. (Source: Tehelka)
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 26 July 2007 )
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