Bangalore: A UNI report from New York says the visiting Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi snubbed Indian dalits settled there for trying to submit her a petition on the largescale atrocities committed in India on poor Untouchables. port in the Statesman (July 29) says:
NEW YORK: Indians living abroad in comfort will not be helping by commenting on situations back home they know little about, according to Mrs. Gandhi, the New York Post said on July 27. In a Washington-datelined story, the Post said that the Prime Minister’s remark came in reply to request from some Indians living in the USA who sought to meet her and lodge a protest against atrocities committed on Harijans. It said she “snubbed” the group called Volunteers in Service to India’s Oppressed and Neglected (VIS- ION)-which had sought to protest “recent atrocities & beheadings targeted at” Harijans. The Post said that Mrs Gandhi sent back a terse reply, refusing to meet and discuss the issue, saying “it does not help for those who are living in affluence abroad to comment on situations about which they have little knowledge”. Since the US dalits represented highly respected Ambedkarites, well qualified, holding responsible positions and many of them intellectuals (an article by two of its members appeared in. DV No-21). Indian dalits hold the VISION headed by a dynamic president. Dr. Laxmi Berwa from Haryana. in high esteem. Many Indian dalits have written us that they are deeply hurt by the PM’s remarks (if the report is true). Surprisingly the “national press” which gave extraordinary coverage to Indira Gandhi visit to US. did not publish so important a report like this. Who bothers about the the Untouchables ?
