Mumbai, July 23: Congress president Sonia Gandhi today directed party workers in Maharashtra to work with greater zeal to ensure communal harmony and welfare of weaker sections in view of the recent spate of attacks on Dalits. The AICC president's directives came when a fact finding mission, appointed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to look into the instances of Dalit atrocities, submitted its report to her in New Delhi.
The fact-finding committee, led by Minister of State for Home Kripashankar Singh, comprising MPCC office-bearers Sanjay Dutt and Subhash Chavan, met Gandhi and apprised her that recent spate of attacks on Dalits were not an "outcome of caste-based conflicts", Singh told.
Singh said the instances were mostly due to the local animosity and unfortunately the victim happened to be Dalits.
Dutt said the Shiv Sena-BJP opposition combine gave the instances of Dalit atrocities a political colour to defame the Congress-led DF government.
The fact finding committee recently toured the Marathwada region, where most of the Dalit attacks have been reported.
"We also explained ground realities to the AICC president" Dutt added.
The committee members later met AICC general secretary Vyalar Ravi, who is also in-charge of party affairs in Maharashtra.
The recent spate of attacks had provided ammunition to saffron combine opposition to attack the DF government, led by a Dalit chief minister. Bureau Report