There is huge resentment against Republican Party of India (Athavale) president Ramdas Athavale among the Dalit masses for his stance over the Khairlangi Dalit massacre case. Athavle, who is aspiring for a central cabinet berth, has not uttered a single word against the state government. The inept handling of the entire issue was exposed, but still he kept quiet and did not encourage his followers to raise their voice or take to the streets like other Republican leaders.
The entire Dalit mass is upset over Athavale' silence on the heinous incident. Barring the demand of a CBI probe, Athavale has not even condemned the incident. The Dalit workers were aghast when Athavale stopped them from arguing with Deputy Chief Minister R. R. Patil in a meeting at Mantralaya. He himself preferred to keep mum during the entire meeting and prevented others who tried to take on Patil.
Previously, after any incident of Dalit atrocity, Athavale was the first person to come onto the roads. Now a number of agitations are going on against the Khairlangi episode but not a single RPI (A) worker has participated in any.
Athavale' party is one of the constituents of the Democratic Front (DF) government in the state. He party' nominee, Pritamkumar Shegaonkar, is a minister of state in the Maharashtra government. According to Dalit workers Athavale should have ask Shegaonkar to quit the ministry and join the agitation, but this incident has proved that Athavale is also power greedy.
When contacted Athavale refuted all allegations. He said, I was the first person to demand a CBI probe. I think to be fair with the government we should give sufficient time to the administration. The machinery has swung into action and we will see results shortly. No point in politicizing the issue.