SC/ST protest at Jantar Mantar: PM Modi unsympathetic to Dalits, says Rahul

New Delhi, Aug 9: Congress President Rahul Gandhi and CPM general secretary joined the protest over SC/ST atrocities bill at Jantar Mantar in the national capital.

Addressing the protesters, Rahul Gandhi said the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi want to "marginalise" the weaker sections.

"If Modi ji had space for Dalits in his heart then the policies for Dalits would have been different. When he was CM he wrote in his book 'Daliton ko safai karne se anand milta hai'. This is his ideology," Rahul Gandhi said.

"It was the Congress and former PM Rajiv Gandhi who thought about the Dalit Atrocities Act. But PM Modi honoured the judge who changed," the top Congress leader added.

The agitators are demanding the release of all their leaders arrested under criminal charges after April's Bharat Bandh.

The protesters are also demanding the arrest of all those involved in atrocities against Dalits and for the government of Madhya Pradesh to immediately make a public statement in line with the one made by Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje.

Raje had announced that cases of atrocities against Dalits will be scrutinised on priority basis and those found arrested without valid reasons shall be released without any further delay.