All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Meenakshi Natrajan's statement on widespread prevalence of caste-based discrimination against dalits in Malwa villages has ignited a controversy within the party.
Objecting strongly to the statements of Natrajan, former Neemuch district Congress President Surendra Sethi has written a letter to party's national Vice-President Rahul Gandhi.
Not leaving this chance, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Mandsuar Yashpal Sisodiya has joined the fray stating that Natrajan is indulging into cheap politics for damaging social harmony to garner votes in the region.
Earlier, Natrajan had said in a statement that people belonging to the scheduled and backward castes are facing severe social discrimination and marginalization in the Malwa region. The dalits are not allowed to ride horse in their marriage, the practice of human scavenging is widespread and the dalit children are made to sit separately from the upper caste children in the schools, she had stated.
Natrajan had further claimed that her observations are based on tour of 120 villages in her constituency. She even said that if anybody had doubts regarding the findings of grave social discrimination against dalits, she could share the list of villages visited by her.
As expected, Natrajan's move has raised the political temperature in the State with even Congress leaders from the upper castes coming out with strong reaction against her. Terming her statement as 'a bundle of lies', former Neemuch district Congress President Surendra Sethi has said that it will damage social harmony by laying foundation of caste-war in Malwa.
However, some prominent dalit leaders have taken sides with Natrajan. State General Secretary of Anusoochit Jati Parishad Prabhulal Chandel has said that her statements reflect the truth about 80 per cent villages of Malwa.
On the other hand, political analysts point out that the timing of Natrajan's statements raise a valid doubt on her intentions. After all, the situation in Malwa has not become so bad all of sudden.