Rahul Gandhi consoles survivors of Dalit carnage

Ameenabad (Uttar Pradesh), Mar 15 : Congress Party general secretary and MP from Amethi, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday visited Etawah and consoled the 'dalit' family whose five members were killed in a land dispute.

He met the survivors of the family and promised support to the children for educational facilities.

"He (Rahul) assured us that the education of the children would be taken care of, declaring that once the children reached the age of 18 years, future course of action would be decided," said Pawan Kumari, sister of the deceased.

"We feel, whichever Government it is, we are not safe. Be it the Congress, the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), we are persistently subjected to atrocities," complained Asha Ram, husband of the village head.

Rahul's visit is seen as an attempt to strengthen base of his party among the dalits ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, slated for next year, though rumours are rife that the Congress might go in for early elections later this year.

Last month, Rahul had spent a night in a dalit family's house in Amethi.

Five members of a dalit family were shot dead in Ameenabad village, when some attackers entered house of the family on Wednesday night and opened indiscriminate fire. According to a five-year-old girl, who escaped, the attackers had covered their faces with blankets.

The police said that a land dispute possibly led to the massacre.

The incident had attracted much political attention, so much so that in order to pre-empt Rahul's move of meeting the dalit family and garner political mileage, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati visited the aggrieved family in advance, last evening only.

ANI