Gandhinagar, March 20 : The Gujarat government on Tuesday denied then Chief Minister Anandiben Patel had promised to give a government job or piece of land to Dalit victims who were thrashed in Una two years back.
In response to Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani's question if Patel had promised to giving either five acres of land or government jobs to the Dalits in Samadhiyala village who were flogged and paraded naked on July 2016 for allegedly cow slaughte, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Ishwarbhai Parmar said that no such matter is found on government record.
The treatment of Vashram, Ramesh, Ashok and Bechar Sarvaiya had been captured on camera and which went viral on social media, shaking the nation and the world and forced the state government into action.
Anandiben Patel had rushed of to the victims and assured them of prompt action against the perpetrators. At the time, she had also promised land or jobs to the victims.
Nearly two years since the incident, not seeing any implementation of this assurance, Mevani had questioned the government.
These four victims and their families have also decided to renounce Hinduism and embrace Buddhism in a mass conversion programme to be held on Buddh Purnima on May 29. They have also said that they will reach out to other atrocity victims and get them to convert.
"Today (Tuesday) we submitted a memorandum to the Veraval District Collector informing that our 20-25 family family would be converting to Buddhism on Buddh Purnima," Balubhai Sarvaiya, head of the family, told the IANS. "The persons committing atrocities on us do not consider us Hindus and despite being Hindus, we face injustice."
"When Anandiben Patel came to meet us on July 20 at our home after the incident, she promised houses for weaker sections in the village, quality roads and jobs as per qualifications. Nothing happened since. No one has got a job till date," he said.
Sarvaiya went on to say that Patel had even announced that their cases would be taken up by a special court and conclusion arrived at within 90 days, but noted that they are still fighting the case for last two years Mevani was unreachable for his version. However, Sarvaiya had a message for him too. "Jignesh is our leader. I consider him as a brother. He is from our community but he should take what he begins to its logical end. Though we are thankful that he has raised our issue in the Assembly, he has never asked us or helped us with our cases even once," he said.
Meanwhile In a reply to another question in the assembly, Parmar admitted that the Vigilance and Monitoring Committee, headed by the department's Principal Secretary, set up to look into the atrocities against the Scheduled Castes and Tribes had met only twice during the last two years.
The committee is supposed to meet after every three months and in its reply, the government has assured that from now on it will be ensured that committee meets regularly.
