YSRCP govt and Andhra police trying to cover up atrocities against Dalits: TDP chief

Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) [India], Aug 29 (ANI): Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday alleged that the YSRCP government and the state police were trying to cover up atrocities against Dalits by using threats and inducements against the victims' families in Andhra Pradesh.
Naidu demanded that police disclose details of call lists and records in the cell phone of Punganur Dalit youth Om Pratap whose death was under suspicion.
"It was another mistake on the part of the police to snatch away the victim's cell phone from the family members. The call lists were crucial to unravel the mystery behind the death. The police should reveal the call lists which would bring out the facts as to who made threatening calls," said Naidu.
"Where was the need for the police to take away the victim's phone when they initially said, there was no case and no suspicion on anybody?" Naidu added.
Addressing an online meeting with the party Dalit leaders, TDP chief strongly objected to the manner in which post mortem was carried out.
"Only after the demand by TDP, the post mortem was carried out of the body of Om Pratap and that too in a secretive way. In Choutupalli also, another Dalit's life was taken. They made the people believe that the Dalit person died when a tractor overturned. But the fact was that there were burn injuries on the Dalit man's body," he said.
Stating that a series of atrocities were taking place against weaker sections in the past 15 months, he said that the ruling YSRCP leaders were behaving as if they would not be punished for any crime.
"It was nothing but total betrayal to attack and take away the lives of the same people with whose votes the YSRCP had come to power. The people's organisations and civil society should condemn the ongoing attacks on the downtrodden sections," Naidu said.
Chandrababu Naidu asserted that the TDP would not keep silent and continue its agitations till the guilty were punished. It was unfortunate that the YSRCP was creating such situations that the Dalits had to commit suicides out of fear and desperation.
"Everybody should come forward and express their solidarity with the silently suffering Dalit community. Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy was the reason for this spate of atrocities. The house arrests of TDP leaders in Chittoor district were condemnable and undemocratic," he said. (ANI)