The Congress launched an attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government on Tuesday, alleging a systematic rise in atrocities against Dalits, Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and women across BJP-ruled states.
At a press conference held at the All India Congress Committee office in New Delhi, Rajendra Pal Gautam, head of the party’s Supreme Committee department, referred to allegations of rape and murder of a teenage girl from the Vishwakarma community in Gazipur, Uttar Pradesh. He claimed that the previous day, he and former Congress president Ajay Kumar Lalu and former MP Ravi Verma were stopped by police at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Babatpur, Varanasi, while the Congress delegation was on its way to meet the victim’s family.
Prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Act were issued in Ghazipur after the death of the victim.
“In India today, at the behest of the Centre, an undeclared emergency has been imposed,” Gautam said and alleged that the BJP is “using power to crush Dalits, backward castes, workers and farmers.”
Lalu also questioned the government’s motives and asked: Why is the government preventing us from meeting the family? “The rule of law has ended in Uttar Pradesh and Jungle Raj has taken power,” he added.
Gautam also pointed out several cases of violence against backward communities in BJP-ruled states, including Madhya Pradesh, where a 23-year-old Dalit groom was dragged off a horse and beaten during his pre-wedding procession.
Read also:‘Every time…the victim is a Dalit, a poor person’: Rahul seeks high-profile probe into Ghazipur rape, demands speedy justice
Verma also questioned the government and demanded accountability.
On April 25, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi demanded a high-level probe into the Ghazipur case. “In a country and state where parents have to beg even for an FIR for their daughter, the government of the country has no moral right to remain in power,” he said in a post on X.
The body of a teenage girl was found in Karanda area of Ghazipur district on April 15, with her family alleging sexual assault and murder. The police are investigating the matter.
