Narendra Modi: Attack me, not my Dalit brethren

PM Narendra Modi yesterday came down heavily on the perpetrators of violence on dalits, telling them, “if you have to attack, attack me” but stop attacking 'my Dalit bretheren'

Hyderabad/Gajwel/Telangana: PM Narendra Modi yesterday came down heavily on the perpetrators of violence on dalits, telling them, “if you have to attack, attack me” but stop attacking “my Dalit bretheren”.

PM Modi launches Mission Bhagiratha to provide drinking water to villages in Gajwel, Medak district in Telangana yesterday. Pic/PTI

Facing increasingly bruising opposition assault on him and BJP over attacks on Dalits and on the issue of cow vigilantes, Modi also lashed out at “fake gau rakshaks”, denouncing them for the second day running for trying to create “tension and conflict” in the society and asking the states to “expose” and take stringent action against them.

Modi said, “I would like to tell these people that if you have any problem, if you have attack, attack me. Stop attacking my Dalit brethren. If you have to shoot, shoot me, but not my Dalit brothers. This game should stop.”

Modi’s choice of Hyderabad to denounce the attacks on Dalits was significant as his government had come under opposition fire following the suicide by a Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula in the city which had triggered campus unrest in several parts of the country.

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