Bangalore: The Karnataka Rajya Dalit Sangharsh Samiti will stage protests in all district headquarter cities in the State on December 30 demanding an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the massacre of four Dalits at Kherlanji in Maharashtra.

State samiti president Lakshminarayana Nagavara told presspersons here on Tuesday that the killing of four members of a Dalit family, social boycott, rape and other atrocities perpetrated on Dalits in the village was a crime against humanity.

The Maharashtra Government's decision to order an inquiry by the Criminal Investigation Department was a farce since it would be under the control of the Government, he said.

Hindu organisations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Hindu Jagaran Manch, which espouse the cause of uniting all Hindus, should now make a public statement on the Kherlanji incident, he said. All Dalit organisations in Maharashtra had come together on this issue, and the protest in Karnataka too had the support of all Dalit groups in the State, said Mr. Nagavara.

Answering a question on the social boycott of Dalits at Kadkol village in Bijapur district, Mr. Nagavara said the State Government was yet to take any serious action on the incident.

When samiti representatives met the Chief Minister and the Social Welfare Minister in this regard, they even suggested that "nothing serious" had happened at Kadkol. "This exposes the anti-secular colours of the coalition government," he said, and accused the Janata Dal (Secular) of covertly supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party's agenda.

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