Sparse attendance during LS debate on Dalit atrocities raises eyebrows

The issue which came up for discussion in the post lunch session under Rule 193  had many embarrassing moments as the start of the session itself was delayed as less than 55 members were present in the House. The House quorum requires presence of 55 members.

Even after frantic mobilization by the floor managers from both the sides of the well, less than 100 members of the 545-member House remained present during the course of the debate. While the Prime Minister was not present, the front benches of the Opposition too remained empty with neither Congress president Sonia Gandhi, nor Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav or former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda being present.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who for the past few days has been attacking the Prime Minister on the issue, too was not present in the House. Worse, even a large number of members representing the reserved constituencies too did not participate in the debate, raising questions on the seriousness of the House in addressing the issue.

In his reply to the debate, Home Minister Rajnath Singh urged against politicising the issue and said society must take it as a challenge to bring an end to such incidents. The debate was held following outrage over incidents of flogging of Dalits, including in Una in Gujarat, by cow vigilantes.

Earlier during the course of the discussion, Opposition members demanded a ban on the cow vigilante groups.  Participating in the debate, the members focussed on the poor conditions of these downtrodden sections across the country, with K H Muniyappa (Cong) alleging that in Gujarat, the attacks on them have a reached “a level never seen in history.” Initiating the discussion, P K Biju (CPI-M) spoke about the overall poor condition of Dalits and cited figures to argue that they were denied equal rights despite the Constitution promising all citizens the same rights.

Participating in the discussion Udit Raj of BJP said the root cause of atrocities was the social thinking of the people. Listing several such incidents in the past during Congress rule, Raj rejected the allegation that it had increased during the BJP regime. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had categorically made it clear that the government was against people involved in hooliganism in the name of cow protection.