Ahmedabad, Sept. 16: Many movers and shakers may give an arm and more for a photo-op with Prime Minister Narendra Modi but the victims of Una flogging and their relatives have turned down an opportunity.
Concerted attempts have been mounted for the past three days to persuade the families to meet Modi on Saturday during the Prime Minister's 66th birthday celebrations with 11,000-odd differently abled people in Navsari, 280km from Ahmedabad.
But Balu Sarvaiya, who was beaten up and whose two sons were among the four who were tied to a vehicle and flogged in Una town after they were found skinning a dead cow on July 11, said: "I am not interested in a photo session with the Prime Minister."
After two recent BJP-sponsored "social harmony" events were disrupted by Dalits in Una and Ahmedabad, the party outsourced the courting assignment to an ally. The Gujarat unit of the Republican Party of India (Athawale), which takes up Dalit causes and is an NDA ally, has been in touch with Sarvaiya.
Chandrasinh Mahida, the state general secretary of the Republican Party of India (Athawale) told The Telegraph: "I know him personally. I told him that he will get a chance to tell the Prime Minister whatever he feels - his demands, complaints and problems. But he does not seem to be interested."
Another option was given to Sarvaiya: accompany Mahida him to Delhi to meet Union minister and RPI (Athawale) president, Ramdas Athawale.
Sarvaiya, who was in Gandhinagar yesterday to meet the governor along with Jayanti Makadia, the convenor of Gujarat Dalit Sanman Sangharsh Manch, said the offer to arrange a meeting with the Prime Minister made no sense to him.
"The BJP is the root cause of our problem. We know how long it took the Prime Minister to break his silence on the Una incident," Sarvaiya said.
Modi spoke out on the issue only on August 6, nearly a month after the Dalits were beaten mercilessly in full view of the public after tying them to a vehicle. In the backlash that followed, Dalits refused to remove carcasses and told the upper castes to do the task themselves if they really revered cows.
"The government has not listened to us. Why should we go to meet the Prime Minister when chief minister Vijay Rupani does not want to meet us? He has no time for us. We are the victims, we want justice and they should come to us," Sarvaiya added.
A 21-point memorandum Sarvaiya submitted to the governor yesterday has demanded the rehabilitation of all Dalit families living in Mota Samadhiyala village in Una.
Kevalsinh Rathod, a relative of the victims, said: "We will not fall prey to this politician (Mahida), though he belongs to the Dalit community. We have conveyed to him that we are not interested in going to Navsari. Mahida wants to boost his own image before the Prime Minister.
"The purpose behind taking the relatives of the Una victims to Modi's function is to give a signal to the Dalit community in Gujarat that 'all's well, the issue has been resolved, the victims are happy with the BJP and the Prime Minister'. But this would amount to fooling the community. The sheer presence of the Una relatives at the event would ensure that the members of the Dalit community do not to create any ruckus."
BJP MLA and parliamentary secretary Jethabhai Solanki, who is also in charge of Gir Somnath district (Una is a taluka of this coastal district), claimed that Mahida had approached him with the idea that the relatives should meet the Prime Minister.
Solanki said he discouraged Mahida by telling him that the state government had done what it should have done. The then chief minister, Anandiben Patel, had visited the victims and announced an assistance of Rs 4 lakh.
The family members of the victims, however, contradicted Solanki's claim, saying many local Dalit leaders loyal to Solanki and Mahida have been contacting them and suggesting that they should meet Modi.
