PTI
RAJKOT
Attacking the BJP and RSS over the Dalit thrashing incident, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said “weaker sections are being terrorised and trampled upon in Gujarat”, a state that Prime Minister Narendra Modi projects as a “model.” On a day''s visit, the Congress vice president also met the kin of the tannery workers who were beaten up allegedly by self-styled vigilante for skinning a dead cow and assured them of all help.
He also visited the hospital in Rajkot where the victims are admitted and said weaker sections of the society are being terrorised and trampled upon in Gujarat and vowed to defeat the “RSS ideology” not only in the state but the entire country.
Rahul said the parents of the victims whom he met told him that their children were beaten up by 40 people on July 11.
“Mother and father said that they do not see any way out. In Modiji''s Gujarat, we are being beaten, terrorised and trampled every day,” he told reporters at Rajkot airport after meeting the victims.
“Modiji talks about Gujarat model, but here whosoever raises his voice against their ideology, whoever asks for education, whoever stands against big corporates, are trampled upon and suppressed,” Rahul said.
“What is this fight? This is is a fight of two ideologies. On the one side are (Mahatma) Gandhiji, Sardar Patel, (Jawaharlal) Nehruji, Babasaheb Ambedkar, and on the other hand is RSS, (M S) Golwalkar (Former RSS Chief) and Narendra Modiji,” he said.
“I told the victims that we will defeat this ideology not only in Gujarat but in the whole country,” he said.
Bringing up Rohith Vemula suicide issue, Rahul linked the Hyderabad campus incident with suicide attempts by youths during the ongoing dalit protests in Gujarat .
“Some time back, I went to Hyderabad. There the youth had committed suicide. The government in Delhi attacked the same family were demanding their rights,” he said.
“Today I went to the hosptial here, where eleven people from different parts of the state who tried to commit suicide are admitted. What does this means, it means that in entire Gujarat, weak people, whichever caste they belong to who do not have money, are being suppressed,” the Congress scion said.
Earlier, family members of the victims said Gandhi felt “ashamed” that such incidents are taking place in India.
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TEA WITH VICTIM'S KIN
* Rahul also had tea with the family members of the victims in remote village near Una town of Gir- Somnath district, where the incident took place on July 11
* He listened to us patiently and assured us of all help so that we can get justice, said Jitu Sarvaiya, a cousin of a victim
* Rahulji said he feels ashamed that such incidents are still taking place in the country and gave his personal number to us to contact in case of any emergency, he said
