Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad accused the Congress, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) of encouraging Dalit violence for political gains.

He stated, “Bhimrao Ambedkar said Dalit movement should not be violent. But some parties like the Congress, the SP, the BSP are fanning Dalit violence in a calculated manner for political gains.”

Prasad added, “Ambedkar died in 1956 but the successive Congress government did not bother to confer him with Bharat Ratna. It was only in 1989 that the V.P. Singh government backed by the BJP conferred the honour on him.”

Elaborating on the opposition’s allegations that the government was trying to dilute the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, he said, “We have made very crucial changes to the SC/ST Act to make it more stringent and to plug the gaps.”

Prasad further pointed out that it was the BJP that has made Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit, the President of India.