Minister slams Hazare for not speaking out against casteism

In Kharda, Nitin Aage, a 12th standard student belonging to backward caste, was allegedly brutally killed by the brother and friends of an upper caste girl recently.

In Ahmednagar district, villagers in Chincholi did not allow cremation of a woman belonging to a lower caste. Last year, three Dalit youths were killed over a love affair with an upper caste girl, he said.

“So many incidents keep happening in Ahmednagar district, but Hazare has chosen to keep quiet,” Raut said.

During his visit to Belad in Malkapur taluka of Buldhana district, he said that he ensured that upper caste people had lifted their social boycott of lower castes.

Raut said that caste tensions tend to rise during Ambedkar Jayanti processions, controversy over crematorium, drinking water, discrimination at public distribution schemes as well as other occasions.

He demanded that not only should the Atrocities Act be implemented strictly, but villages with recurring incidents of caste violence should also be declared as “Dalit atrocities affected” and development funds must be denied to them.