The nationwide shutdown on April 2 called by multiple Dalit organisations, which saw protests in several states, has left the Bharatiya Janata Party scared, as a result of which authorities in BJP-ruled states are committing atrocities against the Dalit community, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said on Sunday.
At least nine people were killed in the protests against a Supreme Court judgment from March that diluted the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Among other things, the order protects public servants from being booked under the atrocities act without a preliminary inquiry.
Mayawati’s remarks follow similar allegations made by BJP legislators that Dalits were being targeted since the April 2 protests. At least four BJP MPs – Udit Raj, Yashwant Singh, Chhote Lal Kharwar and Ashok Kumar Dohre, all from Uttar Pradesh – have spoken out against police atrocities against members of the Dalit community in several states since the agitation, The Indian Express reported.
Acknowledging that the BJP MPs had also flagged this alarming trend, Mayawati also hit out at them, them saying that the “proud Dalit communities will not forgive the selfish BJP Dalit MPs”, The Times of India reported.
On Saturday, BJP MP Udit Raj alleged that a worker of a Dalit organisation he runs in Gwalior was being tortured. “Reports are pouring in that those Dalits who participated in agitation on April 2 are being tortured and it must be stopped,” Raj said on Twitter.
Before Raj, a Dalit lawmaker from the party, Yashwant Singh, accused the Narendra Modi government of failing to deliver on the promises made to the community. His party colleague Chhote Lal Kharwar wrote to Modi, accusing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath of rebuking him and throwing him out of meetings.
On Sunday, the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party – an ally of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh – accused Adityanath of not following “coalition dharma” and “ignoring” its allies, PTI reported. Party chief and Uttar Pradesh minister Om Prakash Rajbhar said he will discuss his concerns with BJP President Amit Shah during his visit to the state on April 10 and then decide on his stand on the alliance.
Meanwhile, Dalit leader and Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani, criticised the Supreme Court for its judgment on the SC/ST Act, calling it “an act of judicial atrocity committed against Dalits of this country”, DNA reported. He made the remarks at a seminar on Sunday.
In response to the allegations, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party had “supported violence and disrupted the peace of the country”, referring to the Dalit protests on April 2. “Our party is working to strengthen the SC/ST Act,” he said at a press conference. “This is being opposed by [Congress President] Rahul Gandhi. The Opposition is indulging in politics in the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar.”
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