Shinde calls BJP anti-Dalit

The people of Karnataka will reject BJP for the “persecution and prosecution” of Dalits and other weaker sections, former Union minister and Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde said on Thursday.

Shinde, also a Dalit, charged that India witnessed a rise in anti-Dalit and anti-Adivasi bias like never before ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power. He attacked BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa for “ordering hotel food as it was below his dignity to eat at a Dalit house.” Shinde also hit out at Union Minister Anantkumar Hegde for calling his critics ‘barking dogs’ after a protest by Dalits, and for his ‘change-the-Constitution’ remark.

Shinde claimed that Modi had once drawn a parallel between mentally-retarded children and Dalits during the release of a book titled Samajik Samrasta.