New Delhi: At the aftermath of the killing of a Dalit man for allegedly addressing a teenager of a different caste as “beta (son)" at a shop in Gujarat’s Amreli district, Congress MLA from Vadgam Jignesh Mevani has questioned the silence of politicians from the state over the incident.

“The Prime Minister is from Gujarat, the Home Minister is from Gujarat but they don’t express their condolences by tweeting. Whenever such incidents happen, Gujarat’s minister for the social justice department, home minister or chief minister never go to wipe the tears of the aggrieved. It is people like us from Dalit organisations and Ambedkarite movement who have to go. The government has a casteist mindset,” said Mewani in a post on X on May 23.

Mevani was speaking following the death of Nilesh Rathod, a Dalit man from Gujarat’s Amreli district, who succumbed days after being thrashed by people who were allegedly infuriated on Rathod addressing a teenager from a different caste as beta.

According to the FIR in the case filed by complainant Lalji Mansukh Chauhan (28), who was also among those thrashed in the incident on May 16, he was with Rathod, the latter had gone to a neighbourhood shop to buy some packaged snacks, reported Indian Express.

The complainant added that Rathod returned after a few minutes and said that the shop owner had tried to hit him with an iron ladle after Rathod called his minor son ‘beta’ (son) while asking the boy if he needed help in reaching the packets of snacks hanging from a hook.

The FIR adds that the shopkeeper and some other men later beat up Rathod and other Dalit men while taunting them for “overreach” despite being from a “lower caste”.

Rathod later passed away on May 22 while undergoing treatment at a hospital. The police told Indian Express that a total of 11 accused were involved in the case, and nine of them have been arrested.

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