Bhim Army flays state govt for attacks on Dalits, Muslims

LUCKNOW: Activists of Bhim Army voiced their anger over police inaction in nailing down those involved in attacks on dalits in Shabbirpur village of Saharanpur on May 5 this year.

At a conference on Nafrat Ka Raj (Rule of hatred) jointly organised by the United Against Hate and Bhim Army Defence Committee at Press Club here on Monday, convenor of Bhim Army, Pradeep Narwal, who is also a JNU student, said the state government was shielding the real culprits.

“In the aftermath of the violence, arson and hooliganism in the area by dominant caste goons, the police witch hunted and arrested members of Bhim Army which is a dalit youth organisation that does social work in the area,” Narwal said.

Clashes had erupted on May 5 in Shabbirpur village after some Dalit residents refused to allow a procession by Thakurs to mark the birth anniversary of Rajput king Maharana Pratap.

Another activist Sunny Gautam said, “Over 30 workers of Bhim Army were jailed and tortured in police custody. The Bhim Army chief Chandrasekhar Azad is still languishing in jail along with two others. While the high court granted him bail on November 2, 2017, and even observed that the act of his arrest was ‘politically motivated’, the UP Police shamelessly booked him under the National Security Act (NSA) retrospectively, to prolong his incarceration.”

“Since the advent of the Yogi government, UP has witnessed terrible attacks, especially on the already marginalised and vulnerable Dalit and Muslim population,” said Sachin Khurana, another activist.

Retired IPS SR Darapuri said, “The BJP governments in the state and Centre are doing Hindutva politics. Muslims are being targeted in the name of terrorism and more recently in the pretext of consuming beef. BJP also believes that Dalits are against Hindu and are often dubbed as naxalites.”

Addressing the gathering, social worker Prof Roop Rekha Verma said, “Dalits and Muslims are neglected under the BJP government. Muslims are being wrongly targeted.”

Writer and critic Virendra Yadav, said: “After Gujarat, now UP is the new laboratory of Hindutva. Muslims have been reduced to orphans as they were no more vote bank for BJP while condition of Dalits has worsened ever since the BSP was decimated in 2014 and 2017 elections.”

Speakers expressed concern over 431 alleged encounters that the UP police have conducted in less than six months and have killed 17 alleged criminals.

These incidents show their communal and casteist prejudice against the oppressed and marginalised communities that is a threat to the secular values enshrined in our constitution, said Mohit Pandey, a former JNUSU president.