Congress leader and former Chief Minister Harish Rawat staged a hunger strike at Har Ki Pauri along with his supporters on Tuesday morning, demanding the BJP Government to stop atrocities against the Dalit community people.
The Congress leader also demanded the BJP led Governments in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to withdraw the cases registered against the Dalits in these two States. However, the local Congress leaders were conspicuous by their absence as it had happened during his earlier protest staged a few days ago. It had been attended only by some hardcore Harish Rawat loyalists. Those loyal to the PCC chief Pritam Singh are steering clear of such programmes with the State Congress remaining divided between the two factions.
“Dalits are being subjected to atrocities perpetrated by the activists of the right- wing outfits being patronised by BJP and its ideological mentor RSS. With such incidents happening thick and fast in the north Indian states, the BJP Governments are conniving with such crimes,” said the former CM. Slamming the State Government on the development issues, he said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi promising a double- engine government during the campaigning, things are dismal in the State. We still hope that the much-vaunted ‘Achhe Din’ would be a reality for the state. However, the hope slowly turning into a chimera, the people are yearning to bring back the good old days.”