Ahemdabad: Protesting the flogging of a Dalit Family by Gau Rakshaks in Una, the community members have announced to hold a protest march from Ahmedabad to Una starting August 5. The protesters said, “we have planned to gather in Una on August 15 to observe our protest on the Independence Day.

Dalit leaders, on Sunday, stated that this march is in protest against the incident of Gau Rakshaks thrashing a Dalit family for skinning a dead cow. The leaders have also asked all members of the community to give up disposing of dead cattle and stop scavenging in order to send a strong message to the BJP government on atrocities perpetuated on the community members.

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Addressing a Dalit Mahsabha, Jignesh Mevani, convener of Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti (UDALS) said, “To give a strong message to the BJP government, I urge all Dalits to discontinue the work of disposing dead animals. I also want you to take a pledge of discontinuing the work of cleaning sewer lines. We no longer wish to do this work and want the government to allot agriculture land to us, so that we can live a respectable life.”

“If atrocities on Dalits do not stop, we will show our strength in the 2017 assembly polls,” he stated.

What else did the Dalit leader say:

• Mevani raised many unresolved legal and constitutional issues of Dalits in Gujarat.
• The leader said that the government does not believe in all round development of people and harmony.
• "This government believes in Daliton ka Utpidan, Daliton ka Vinash (persecution and annihilation of Dalits) and not in Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas,” he stated.

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Mevani attacks PM Modi:

• Referring to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi being hurt and upset over the Una incident, the Dalit said that PM Modi had never taken done anything for the uplift of Dalits during his governance.
• “I want to ask Rajnathji, did Modi visit a single Dalit family of Gujarat which faced atrocity? If the answer is yes, we will withdraw our proposed protest march,” the leader said while addressing the gathering.

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Dalits supported by Muslims:

• A number of Muslim youth also participated in the Mahasabha to show Dalit-Muslim solidarity.
• Some leaders of Jamait-e-Ulema-e-Hind Gujarat also participated in the sabha.