Congress stages walkout of Himachal Pradesh Assembly over ‘discrimination’ against Dalits in state

The opposition Congress on Monday walked out of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly over alleged discrimination against Dalits in the state.

Flaying the Congress, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said instead of walking out of the assembly, the opposition party should have had a serious discussion on how to eliminate such discrimination.

He claimed that the Congress MLAs were doing this just to remain in headlines of the newspapers.

The Congress legislators returned to the House within a few minutes of the walkout and then raised slogans against the BJP government in the state.

According to a police complaint, Chandramani, resident of a village in Mandi's Balh tehsil, had organised a religious function at his home on Sunday when Narendra Kumar came there and disrupted the programme by pouring water into the 'chulah'. He also allegedly kicked the utensils containing food.

An FIR was registered at Balh police station under relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act based on the complaint.

The chief minister said the matter was being investigated by Mandi DSP Anil Patial and the accused would be held after verifying the facts.

Congress MLA Nand Lal said there has been several incidents of discrimination against Dalits in the recent time in the state.

Alleging that a local BJP leader was involved in the recent episode, he said, "This is the second such incident within a few days in the CM's home district." To which, Chief Minister Thakur, replied, "It is not right to connect such people with any party. We should condemn such incidents in one voice irrespective of whosoever is involved in these crimes." Citing another such incident which happened a few days ago in the state, he said two people were arrested after Sushil lodged a police compliant that his co-villagers Dila Ram and Vijay Kumar refused to serve him food in a public feast (Samuhik Bhoj) during Shivratri festival and also threatened to eliminate him.

"I did not want to say this but as the opposition levelled allegations that a local BJP leader is involved in the recent incident, I want to make it clear that one of the two accused involved in the earlier case in Mandi is a Zila Parishad member, who is also an officer-bearer of the Congress," Thakur said.