NEW DELHI, July 28: Congress MPs in the Rajya Sabha today condemned the recent desecration of an Ambedkar statue in Mumbai and the resultant violence which led to the death of 10 Dalit youth in police firing.

Raising the matter during a short duration discussion, Congress MP Sushil Kumar Shinde described the incident as ``shameful'' and lamented that atrocities on Dalits were continuing under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena Government in the State.

He accused the State Government of not properly utilising the funds provided for the uplift of Dalits and urged political parties to do a serious rethink into the causes of incidents such as the one which occurred recently in Mumbai.

While BJP MPs also condemned the desecration they however maintained that there were different versions of the causes of police firing. These were being inquired into by a High Court judge, they said.

Stating that the Maharashtra Government had accepted whatever suggestions were given by Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta, Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and the Congress party on setting up a time-bound inquiry commission to go into the incident, Ram Kapse, a BJP member, said that according to available statistics such incidents had come down during the tenure of the present government.

Condemning the massacre Ramachandran Pillai from the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI-M) said the attacks on Dalits have been continuing in Maharashtra for the last two-and-a-half years. He alleged that the government in power and the political leadership were responsible for the deliberate attack on the weaker sections.

Satish Pradhan, leader of Shiv Sena in the Rajya Sabha, alleged that there was a Congress hand in the incident and said the affidavit showed Chhagan Bhujbal's involvement in it.

He said the Shiv Sena has strongly condemned the desecration as well as the police firing and urged the members to wait for the enquiry committee's report.

N K P Salve (Congress) however clarified Bhujbal's position and said he had never asked the people to attack the houses of ministers as claimed by the Shiv Sena.

At this point, R V Narayanasamy (Cong) objected to othe home minister's absence from the house and said he should have been present during such an important discussion.

John F Fernandes (Cong) suspected a foreign hand in the incident and said the Centre must institute an enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the incident to find out the involvement of anti-national and foreign elements.

Ram Jethmalani (BJP) said the state government has undertaken every single possible action under the law including suspension of the police officials and setting up of a commission. He said some parties were using double standards advocating the use of Article 356 for the removal of Maharashtra government and at the same time supporting the scrapping of the article.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.