SC/ST leaders’ meet: Dalit Sangharsh Samiti slams Congress top brass

Bengaluru: The Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (DSS), which had backed Congress in the 2023 Assembly polls, went public with its frustration towards the party’s high command for blocking SC/ST leaders from holding a separate meeting to discuss the community’s issues. 

On Friday, a DSS team led by its leader Mavalli Shankar met Social Welfare Minister Dr H C Mahadevappa. 

During the meeting, the Dalit group lashed out at the Congress top brass for asking Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara to postpone a meeting he had convened on January 8 to discuss SC/ST issues. 

“In a democracy, it’s not wrong to convene a meeting to discuss issues pertaining to oppressed communities. The upper castes, be it Vokkaligas or Lingayats, keep holding meetings. We’ve also seen pontiffs threatening to protest if a certain someone isn’t made the chief minister. When the high command keeps quiet about that, is it right to intervene when we want to speak up about our problems?” Shankar told reporters. “Imagine the amount of hate they must have in their heart,” he added. 

“We are hurt with the way the Congress high command has acted,” Shankar said, adding that SC/STs, OBCs and minorities contributed to the Congress’ victory. “Despite injustices, we wanted this government in power. It hurts when they do this to us,” he said. 

Shankar recalled the stature that Dalit leaders B Basavalingappa and N Rachaiah had. “The entire Cabinet used to listen to their words,” he said. “Such (Dalit) voice shouldn’t get lost.” 

Earlier in the day, Mahadevappa met Parameshwara at the latter’s Sadashivanagar residence. Later, Parameshwara said Mahadevappa met him for “personal” reasons.