Dalit activist Teltumbde targets Modi, Rahul

Dalit activist Anil Teltumbde, whose campus residence in Goa was raided as part of the Pune police probe into violence at Bhima Koregaon in August this year, alleged on Friday that "whenever Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity declines, the police discover a plot to assassinate him".

Teltumbde, a professor at Goa Institute of Management (GIM), also said that Congress President Rahul Gandhi "still does not know what is to be done to rebound to power," criticizing his highly-publicised visits to temples and sporting the sacred thread ahead of the 2017 state Assembly elections in Gujarat.

The activist was speaking at a public lecture on "Democracy, Dissent and Economic Growth", organised in the Goa capital.

"Whenever there is a decline in his (Modi) popularity, through the police there emerges a plot to assassinate him," Teltumbde said and cited the Ishrat Jahan encounter case in 2004.

The academic and Dalit activist said he was a part of the first fact-finding team, which established that the encounter of Ishrat was fake.

Teltumbde said during his tenure as Chief Minister since 2002, Modi had been trying to convince the promoters of global capital that he was the only Indian politician who could serve their interests best.

"As CM at that time, he (Modi) demonstrated to the global capital that no one can serve your interests better than me. The contact is between Modi and the global capital and not BJP...it is Modi as a person," Teltumbde said.

The GIM professor also slammed Rahul Gandhi's political antics during his lecture.

"He (Rahul) started going to temples, started sporting a 'tilak' and started wearing a sacred thread. And then the BJP government was elected (in Gujarat) and after that, the media started saying that Rahul Gandhi has now emerged as a leader. He still does not know what is to be done," Teltumbde said.

--IANS

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