Paswan questions opposition's silence over Dalit law

Taking on the opposition over Dalit issues, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said Tuesday it turned silent after the Centre passed a bill to restore stringent provisions of a law on atrocities against Dalits and accorded constitutional status on an OBC commission.

Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ally.

"The Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal would call the Narendra Modi government anti-Dalit and anti-backward castes," he tweeted.

"But when it passed the Dalit law to restore its original provisions and gave constitutional status to the backward commission, then why have they become silent," he claimed.

Praising the government for its decision, he said it is easy to swim along the flow of water but takes courage to swim against it.