Coming down heavily on the perpetrators of violence on dalits, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said, "If you want to attack, attack me, not dalits. If you want to shoot, shoot me". Prime Minister was addressing a party meet in Hyderabad where he also attacked politics over the Dalit issue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

party meet in Hyderabad

(With inputs from agencies)

PM Modi slams attack on dalits: 'If you want to shoot, shoot me'

NEW DELHI: Coming down heavily on the perpetrators of violence on dalits,on Sunday said, "If you want to attack, attack me, not dalits. If you want to shoot, shoot me".The Prime Minister was addressing awhere he slammed the recent attacks on the dalit community and condemned the politics over the dalit issue. Attacking his political rivals, PM said, "Some people who thought that they control dalit votes could not digest the fact that people are now getting to know about BJP's good work."Modi's choice of Hyderabad to denounce the attacks on Dalits is significant as his government had drawn a lot of flak following the suicide by a Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula in the city which had triggered campus unrest in several parts of the country.Upset over the numerous incidents of such violence, the PM evoked the 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' (the entire world is a family) ideology, which is the fabric of Indian culture and said that it is a shame that we are attacking our own brothers and sisters. "We are the people who talk about 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' and if we cannot embrace our dalit brothers and sisters, the world will not forgive us," PM Modi said."What right do we have to ill-treat our dalit sisters and brothers," he asked in his speech which lasted for about 45 minutes. I want to tell everyone that discrimination between people is not acceptable. We must stop this," he said.Numerous cases of atrocities against the dalit community have been reported in the recent past and the opposition parties have been questioning PM Modi's silence over the issue.Concluding his address, PM Modi urged his partymen and country at large to protect the dalits. "We have to protect the marginalised and the dalits. It is our duty," he said.