Tamil Nadu Governor slams State Govt; Says criminal justice system has failed ‘awfully’ to stop crimes against Dalits

 

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi lashed out at the DMK government, holding it ‘responsible for a rise in the number of attacks’ against Dalits in Tamil Nadu. The Governor said law enforcement and the criminal justice system has failed ‘awfully’ to stop alleged crimes against Dalits.

‘In our state, we are talking so much about social justice but every other day you hear some atrocities against Dalits’, TN Governor R N Ravi said at the launch of the Tamil edition of the book ‘MODI @ 20’ (Dreams Meet Delivery) and ‘Ambedkar & Modi (Reformer’s Idea, Performers Implementation)’ in Chennai Guindy Anna University.

Ravi emphasised that everyone should thank Prime Minister Modi as ‘because of him, everyone has started to think about Ambedkar’. He lamented that partition could have been averted, had ‘we’ listened to BR Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution. ‘Earlier, people used BR Ambedkar’s name for politics. People would swear by his name either to accuse someone or to praise oneself’, the Governor added.

Calling Ambedkar a great nationalist, Ravi recalled how he stood like a rock when the British tried to create a separate electorate for the Scheduled Caste, and Scheduled Tribe to divide the country. ‘He (Ambedkar) didn’t allow that’, the Governor said. ‘When Muslim leaders demanded a separate Pakistan, leaders of the Indian National Congress thought it could be managed’, Ravi said. ‘If we had listened to Ambedkar, the partition could have been avoided or it would not have been as dramatic. Thousands died and millions were rendered homeless. The partition could have been less painful. But we didn’t listen to him’, Governor Ravi said.

He also condemned the Vengaival incident reported last month in which human excreta was found in water tanks. ‘When it comes to crime against Dalits, the response of the law enforcement authorities and the criminal justice system is awful in the state’, Governor said. ‘Human faeces are put in the water tanks of the Dalit colony. They are being publicly humiliated and assaulted or not being allowed to enter temples or Anganwadi schools’, Governor Ravi said.

He claimed that a conviction rate of 7% in rape cases against Dalit women was ‘painful’ and, ‘we talk about social justice and Baba Saheb’. Citing a CAG report, the Governor said 30% of the funds allocated by the Centre for building homes for Dalits remained unspent. ‘So much for social justice’, the Governor said, in a dig at the DMK regime. Union Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting and Fisheries L Murugan also participated at the event.