Bikaner (Rajasthan) [India], March 20 (ANI): Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of appeasement in response to his remarks on the incident of violence in Delhi's Uttam Nagar, where Tarun Khatik was killed during Holi celebrations.

He said Gandhi showed sympathy for the perpetrators instead of the victim's family, alleging that the Congress leader prioritises Dalit votes but insults the community when a Dalit is harmed.

Speaking to ANI in Bikaner, Meghwal said on Thursday, 'Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi crossed all limits of appeasement today. In Delhi's Uttam Nagar, Tarun Khatik was beaten to death by people of a particular community on Holi. But Rahul Gandhi didn't express his sympathies to the bereaved family. In his tweet, he seems to be sympathetic to the ones who killed him.'

'It means that Rahul Gandhi wants Dalit votes, but if someone from the Dalit community is killed by a particular community, Rahul Gandhi is seen standing with that community and insulting the Dalit community...Dalit community has understood you. In the time to come, you will have to pay a heavy price for this,' he said.

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP of inciting communal violence over the Uttam Nagar incident and appealed to the residents of Delhi not to fall for 'any provocation.'

In a post on X, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha expressed concerns over the Uttam Nagar clash and said that the people paid a heavy price for the violence.

'The people of Uttam Nagar have paid a heavy price for the violence - on one side, a young man, Tarun, lost his life, and on the other, an entire family is facing persecution. They don't want any more bloodshed. Bloodshed is what only the BJP and its ecosystem desire, which seizes every opportunity to bake the bread of violence on the griddle of hate,' Gandhi wrote.

Hitting out at the India-US trade deal, Gandhi said that the BJP is allegedly creating conditions of Hindu-Muslim violence as a distraction from the alleged handover of the country's 'defence, energy security, food security, and strategic sovereignty' to America.

'They want the country to remain entangled in Hindu-Muslim strife, so that people cannot ask why the Prime Minister is being forced to hand over the country's defence, energy security, food security, and strategic sovereignty to America - and that's why, in broad daylight, riot-like conditions are once again being created in the nation's capital,' the post read.

On March 4, a dispute reportedly broke out over a balloon, which later escalated into a violent altercation at Delhi's Uttam Nagar. During the altercation, a 26-year-old man, Tarun Khatik, was allegedly beaten to death during Holi. (ANI)