Republican Party of India (RPI) leader Ramdas Athawale has said that the government should provide financial aid to those who marry outside their caste.
Republican Party of India (RPI) leader Ramdas Athawale has said that the government should provide financial aid to those who marry outside their caste. He said that inter-caste marriages should be encouraged to stop discrimination.
The RPI leader was in Shirdi on Sunday when he spoke to journalists. He said, “The government should provide financial aid of '4-5 lakh for inter-caste marriages. This will help to end the caste-related disputes. I am myself married to a girl belonging to Brahmin community.”
Referring to an incident in Pune’s Indapur taluka few days ago in which a Dalit woman and her daughter were allegedly strip-searched in Indapur over the accusation of minor theft and another incident from Baramati where a man allegedly ran over a dalit boy with his tractor over a land dispute, Mr Athawale said, “The BJP has come in power only recently. But the Congress, which was in power for over 60 years, has done nothing to eradicate discrimination over caste.”
Mr Athawale also expressed concern over the India-Pakistan relations, against the backdrop of the attack on Pathankot air base. “Pakistan has engaged in direct and indirect war with India on several occasions, which includes attack on Parliament, the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, and attack on air base in Pathankot recently. On one side, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan. Mr Modi also invited Mr Sharif for his swearing-in. Time and again, he wants friendship with Pakistan, but despite this they have engaged in direct or indirect war with us,” he said.
