The death of two Dalit children in Faridabad in Haryana has come to haunt the Narendra Modi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) even as the dust over Dadri lynching is yet to settle down.
The burning to death of two children by upper caste men in Sanpedh village, about 35 km from here, soon assumed political overtones with political leaders including Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi making a beeline to express sympathies to the aggrieved family.
Gandhi accused Modi, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, BJP and RSS of practising “politics of crushing” the weak.
“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 told reporters in Sanpedh village.
Gandhi flew into a rage when asked whether he had come to the village for furthering his politics and for a photo opportunity.
“This is insulting when someone says it when someone comes here. It is not insulting to me. It is insulting to these people. What is a photo op? What you mean? People are dying. I will keep coming to such places,” he said.
Meanwhile, BJP ally and LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan held the BJP government in Haryana responsible for the ghastly incident.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad also attacked Modi government for rising incidents of intolerance against the weaker sections of the society.
A section of the political leaders believed that the killing of Dalits in Haryana may create negative vibes for the BJP in Bihar elections, much like the Dadri lynching incident.
Leaders of the grand anti-BJP alliance in Bihar claimed that the inflammatory statements by a section of BJP leaders in the aftermath of the Dadri incident had benefited them.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashutosh also visited Sunpedh village and blamed the “callousness and ineptness” of the Haryana Police for the killings.
CPM leader Brinda Karat also visited the village and accused the state administration of failure to deal with the situation.