The brutal murder of two Dalit children near Faridabad in Haryana has cornered the BJP as the Opposition, and even some of he ruling party’s allies, condemned the ongoing trend of violence against minorities and Dalits in several parts of the country. The issue is particularly being discussed in Bihar as the leaders of the Grand Alliance blamed the Centre’s alleged apathy towards such violent incidents. In Bihar, the Dalit votes are crucial for the BJP to win the Assembly elections. Leaders of the Congress and Left parties visited the house that witnessed the attack by an upper caste group. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi said it was the attitude of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Sangh Parivar that the weak could be crushed, and that this was being done through violent acts such as this.

“This is an attitude shared by the Prime Minister, Chief Minister of the State and the entire BJP and RSS. The attitude is if somebody is weak, he can be crushed. What you have seen is the result of this attitude,” he said. He denied that the Opposition was trying to derive political mileage out of the episode, calling it “insulting”. “It is not insulting to me. It is insulting to these people. What is a photo op? What do you mean? People are dying. I will keep coming to such places again and again and again,” he said.

BSP supremo Mayawati said if the victims were not provided proper security and compensation by the Haryana government and prompt action not taken against the culprits, her party will take the issue to the streets. “At the Centre and in many States, governments are still working with a casteist mindset and discriminating against these [Dalit] sections,” she said.

The JD(U) and RJD were vehement in their criticism. Both Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar said in separate tweets that the BJP’s attitude was helping the violence-mongers. “I had demanded that they burn books of Guru Golwalkar which are anti-Dalit in theme...but in their rule instead Dalits are burnt alive... Dalits and backwards unite,” Lalu said. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said he was shocked by the incident. “Shocked…Where are those now who claimed ‘ hamari sarkar bana do sab theek ho jayega ’ (bring my government to power and all will be fine),” Kumar tweeted.

Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said it was the responsibility of the Haryana government to ensure law and order in the State. “Law and order is totally State government’s accountability... though the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have Constitutional protection, this issue is completely the State government’s responsibility,” he said in Patna.

A CPI(M) delegation led by Brinda Karat too visited the area. “Clearly, the upper castes have been emboldened by the aggressive communal and casteist agenda being pursued in the State of Haryana under the BJP State government,” the CPI(M) said in a statement.

The BJP, on the other hand, reminded Lalu Prasad that it was during his tenure that the Laxmanpur Bathe incident happened, where 58 Dalits were murdered by the Ranbir Sena.

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