Akalis ask Pb govt to protect life and property of Dalits

Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal today asked the Congress government to take steps to protect the life and property of Dalits in the state.
"Dalits are facing brutal attacks at the hands of Congress workers solely as they had exercised their franchise against the party," he said here in a statement.
The former deputy chief minister said the Dalit community was feeling unsafe across the state and was in the grip of a fear psychosis.
"The wave of violence unleashed against Dalits threatens to offset the egalitarian society established in the region by our great Gurus," he said.

He alleged that Congress party workers and leaders were targeting Dalits systematically wherever they had not voted for the party to "teach them a lesson as well as frighten them into supporting the Congress henceforth".
He said bizarre incidents which had never occurred before were happening on an everyday basis in Punjab.

"Congressmen have become so drunk with power that they are thrashing and stripping Dalits and posting pictures of the same on facebook," he alleged.
Asking the Congress government to take action against its leaders who were indulging in atrocities against Dalits, as well as police officers who were supporting them, he said if this was not done, the SAD would launch a state wide agitation.

He said it was also unfortunate that Dalits were not only facing atrocities in Congress rule but were also not getting social welfare benefits from the state.
"These benefits should be resumed immediately and also enhanced as promised", he added.
Stating that the Congress government must take everyone along with it, particularly the Dalit section of society, the SAD president said it was galling that no concrete action had been taken in all such cases.