Youth Leader: Why Can’t PM Modi Clean the Dirty Gutters?
Student leader Umar Khalid Khalid and a Dalit activist Jignesh Mewani have planned to hold an online conference which will be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube.
By Rakesh Raman
A popular student leader Umar Khalid has unleashed a scathing attack on India’s prime minister Narendra Modi, saying that Modi is oppressing Dalits (the members of the lowest caste in India).
In his speech delivered in Pune a couple of days ago, Khalid said that Modi is not doing anything for the upliftment of the Dalit community. Rather, he said, Modi is persecuting Dalits by asking them to do dirty jobs such as sewer (gutter) cleaning.
In his address, Khalid said that Modi is not bothered when Dalit sanitation workers are dying in Delhi while cleaning the sewers. Last year, at least 10 sanitation workers had died in Delhi.
Khalid ridiculed Modi’s claim of having a nuclear bomb. He said India may be having nuclear technology, but Modi does not have gutter-cleaning technology to save Dalits.
The student leader also quoted Modi who had said that gutter-cleaning is a spiritual exercise. “If it is a spiritual exercise then why can’t Modi clean the gutters?” Khalid questioned.
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As his criticism of Modi is being considered as an anti-national activity aimed at inciting the Dalit community, a police case has been registered against Khalid, who said he is being targeted because he is a Muslim.
Khalid suggested that Indians must stand up to Modi’s sanguine attempt of making India a Hindu Rashtra (a nation where only Hindus can live).
What did I say in Pune that really hurt the bhakts and their masters! Listen in…https://t.co/pwwkT6LiYk
— Umar Khalid (@UmarKhalidJNU) January 6, 2018
Meanwhile, Khalid and a Dalit activist Jignesh Mewani have planned to hold an online conference which will be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube on January 10.
They assert that they will not allow Modi government to muzzle the freedom of expression in the country.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. Besides working at senior editorial positions with leading media companies, he was writing an exclusive edit-page tech business column (named Technophile) regularly for The Financial Express (a daily business newspaper of The Indian Express Group).
Earlier, he had been associated with the United Nations (UN) through United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert to help businesses use technology for brand marketing and business development. He also runs a free school for deserving children under his NGO – RMN Foundation.
Photo courtesy: Press Information Bureau
