Chennai: A recent incident in which cow dung was mixed into drinking water in an overhead tank used by Dalits at a village in Pudukottai district was condemned on Monday by BJP leader and Union Minister L Murugan, who called it a 'heinous act' and demanded that the perpetrators be brought to book.
The BJP leader criticised the DMK government in the state over alleged inaction in the case.
Several persons, including children, fell ill after consuming the water a few days ago from the overhead tank in Sangamviduthi village in Pudukottai district, Murugan said, adding that the facility was meant to serve the people belonging to the Scheduled Castes.
Slamming the DMK for taking 'no action' against perpetrators in a similar case a year-and-a-half ago in Vengaivayal of Pudukottai, where human faeces was mixed into the drinking water tank of the Dalits, the BJP leader said the Sangamviduthi incident is equally heinous as the shocking Vengaivayal episode.
In a statement, Murugan demanded that the DMK government bring the perpetrators of such atrocious incidents to justice, whoever they may be.
The DMK regime continues to be a 'mute spectator' in incidents such as Vengaivayal against Scheduled Castes and this is the reason behind such atrocious incidents being repeated, he alleged.
Murugan also raised the issue of discrimination against Scheduled Castes in several parts of Tamil Nadu, where even today a two-tumbler system and separate burial grounds exist, apart from a bar on entry in some temples. He asked if this was the DMK's 'Dravidian model'.
Published 29 April 2024, 17:05 IST