New Delhi, May 15: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will on Wednesday meet the 19-year-old Dalit woman, who was allegedly gangraped in Alwar on April 26.
The incident has provoked anger and protests across the state and, in the middle of a fierce election campaign, attacks on the Congress government by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as BSP chief Mayawati. The Prime Minister had accused the Congress government in Rajasthan of suppressing the incident, which took place on April 26, till the elections are over in the state on May 6. Addressing an election rally earlier this week, Modi had accused the Congress government in Rajasthan of trying to suppress and hide the incident. "Because there were elections in Rajasthan. The Congress government did not want news of the incident to come out. They wanted to save the criminals, wanted to collect votes...the Congress feared that if the incident of rape of a Dalit daughter comes out... then it will have an impact on its votes..." BSP chief Mayawati too had leveled the same charge at the Ashok Gehlot government. Gandhi's move is believed to be aimed at sending a message to the Dalit community across the country, especially in Punjab where Dalits constitute around 31 per cent of the population.