The Hindu : Lok Janshakti to hold awareness march

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 04, 2003

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Lok Janshakti to hold awareness march

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 3. Concerned over the incidents of attack against Dalits, the Lok Janshakti party today announced it would hold an awareness march from Punjab, which witnessed caste-clashes last month, to Delhi in the third week of July.

Referring to the clashes in Punjab's Talhan village, the party chief and former Union Minister, Ram Vilas Paswan, said a "Dalit Chetna cycle march'' was being organised from Jalandhar to Delhi between July 11 an 21. He said hundreds of party workers and prominent leaders would take part in it.

Mr. Paswan regretted that none of the major political parties, including the Shiromani Akali Dal, had condemned the incident. "Every party should condemn such issues, otherwise some political parties would seek to exploit it,'' he said at a press conference here. He said the incident could have been avoided had the State administration not been lax.

Turning to the acquittal of the accused in the Best Bakery killings in Gujarat, Mr. Paswan alleged that the failure of the Government to prosecute indicated that it had a hand.

Stating that even the National Human Rights Commission had suggested that the State Government should appeal against it, Mr. Paswan said the attitude of the State and silence of the Centre were not helpful.

Mr. Paswan said he had recently called on the ailing Shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan, who had complained about the financial problems being faced by his family.

Mr. Paswan demanded that the Government meet the Ustad's request for allotment of a gas agency in the name of his grandson, be restored the free rail pass and also honour his prominent disciples.

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