The following is the statement issued by the All India Agricultural Workers Union and the Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union, on October 24.                                                                                                        

THE growing atrocities on dalits all over the country have become a matter of the gravest concern today. The number of murders have risen from 570 in 2010 to 744 in 2014. Rapes have increased from 511 in 2010 to 2,233 in 2014. The exponential growth of atrocities has reached a total of 39,408 in 2013.  This can no longer be tolerated.

It is a matter of serious concern that crimes against dalits have shown a sharp increase in states ruled by the BJP like Rajasthan (8028), Madhya Pradesh (4151), Maharashtra (1768), Gujarat (1,130), Chhattisgarh (1066), Jharkhand (903) and Haryana in the National Capital Region, with no less a figure of 830 in 2014.

What is worse is that a cabinet minister, Gen. VK Singh thought it fit to connect the murder of two members of a dalit family in Sunpedh village in Faridabad after a family of four was locked up in its house and set on fire with the analogy of a dog being hit by a stone. The Haryana chief minister too failed to visit the bereaved family although leaders of most political parties had been there and declared that it was a failure of the Haryana administration and police that had resulted in the murder which could have been avoided as the family was ostensibly being protected by the police.

 But what happened two days later in Gohana was much worse. A 14 year old dalit boy, Govinda, was picked up for questioning regarding the theft of a pigeon, kept in the police station for the night and was found dead the next morning. The family of the boy claims they paid a bribe of Rs 2500 and even then he was killed. In this case too, the Haryana authorities are failing to arrest the policemen despite massive protests in Sonipat district.

Life is cheap in Haryana it seems as even after this, a young girl was raped and murdered in Kundli near the Delhi Haryana border. It is evident from the arrogant statements of both a cabinet minister Gen. VK Singh and the attempts of the Haryana chief minister to belittle these horrible crimes as the result of personal enmity in a state that has seen the mass exodus of dalits from Gohana and Mirchpur as well as the murder of innocent dalits in Dulina on the false accusation of taking cattle for slaughter in the past is something that reflects the refusal of both the BJP government at the centre and in Haryana to take the situation seriously which we condemn in the strongest terms possible.

The All India Agricultural Workers Union and the Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union demand the following;

1.        The prime minister should present a white paper on the failure of the BJP government to prevent attacks on dalits all over the country and especially in states governed by them.

2.        The chief minister of Haryana should take immediate steps to protect dalits and minorities in the state from attacks by taking action against the Haryana police that has failed miserably to protect them or should resign.

3.        In the cases of the murders in Faridabad and Sonipat districts, the Haryana government should immediately invoke the provisions of the SC/ST Act both in Sunpedh and Gohana against the murderers including members of the Haryana police force, who should be arrested and proceeded against.

4.        We demand a minimum of Rs 10 lakh per victim killed and demand the immediate rehabilitation of the families concerned as well as those of Gohana and Mirchpur.

5.        Both our unions have decided to individually and jointly campaign against the threat that the BJP government represents to the dalit community of Haryana and protest all over the state.