Rahul Gandhi's love for Dalits a sham: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday accused Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and the Congress government in Haryana of merely expressing sympathy to the ostracised Dalit families of Mirchpur village in Hisar and demanded rehabilitation of the displaced victims.

"Supreme Court's admonition of Haryana government on the atrocities against people of Balmiki Samaj in Mirchpur village exposes administrative and constitutional failure of the state government," BJP spokesperson Ramnath Kovind said.

He maintained that Gandhi and Chief Minister Bupinder Singh Hooda went to the spot ten days after the April 30 incident and announced compensation for repairing the houses of Dalit victims and employment to families of the deceased.

He took a dig at Rahul Gandhi for "posing" as a well-wisher of Dalits and said this "drama proved to be a sham".

"Mere expressing of sympathy on the spot by Gandhi and the chief minister and not doing anything to give them security and to arrange for their rehabilitation shows gross failure of the Congress government and exposes its 'love' for Dalits," Kovind said.

"Even Congress President Sonia Gandhi had only paid lip service by conveying sympathies towards family members of the victims," he said.

"The state government has not taken any stringent action against the culprits. The BJP demands that Rahul Gandhi should immediately stop the hypocrisy of love for Dalits and instead get adequate relief and rehabilitation for the victims' families from the state government," he added.

The Supreme Court took cognizance of the incident yesterday in which two people of Balmiki community were burnt alive and about 35 houses were looted and burnt.

The Hooda government has been asked to present its case in the apex court on June 2. Kovind claimed that 150 families were affected in the incident and the survivors were now living in a Valmiki Mandir in Delhi.

"These people feel insecure in returning to their village. We demand that the government should provide them built up houses in Hisar city," he added.