BJP leaders marching against ‘atrocities on Dalits’ detained
JALANDHAR : Punjab BJP president Ashawani Sharma, Union minister of state ( MOS) Som Prakash and other party leaders were detained by police in Jalandhar on Thursday during a “Dalit insaaf march” to chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s Chandigarh residence against the alleged atrocities on the schedule castes in the state.
Besides Sharma and Som Prakash, former Union minister Vijay Sampla, party general secretary Jiwan Gupta and former Punjab minister Manorajan Kalia among others were stopped at Surya Enclave and were taken to a rest house where they held a protest. The BJP leaders termed the move as a bid to suppress the voice of Dalits.
Sharma said, “The atrocities against the underprivileged communities and corruption in the Congress government have proliferated in an unprecedented manner. In a democracy, everyone has the right to demonstrate. The march organised by the BJP’S Scheduled Castes Front was stopped by the government by calling police force from different districts.”
“The CM is trying to hide the failures of his government and stop the BJP from becoming the voice of people. Cabinet minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and officials of his department embezzled post- matric scholarship funds but the CM gave him a clean chit,” he added.
Kalia said instead of maintaining law and order, the police are crushing their democratic rights. “The Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal also took out marches over the past few days. Why didn’t the police stop them?” Kalia said.
Police officials said that the BJP leaders were detained to avoid a possible clash with the farmers protesting against the new farm laws as the state party president’s car was attacked recently.
Congress MLA Sushil Kumar Rinku said the BJP is making attempts to mislead the Dalits, claiming that atrocities against the communityare taking place in the BJP- ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, not Punjab.