Mayawati, Congress accuse Yogi Adityanath's government of failure to protect Dalits
Saharanpur: UP Home Secretary Mani Prasad Mishra talks to the persons affected by the violence in Saharanpur, in Shabbirpur on Wednesday. PTI Photo
With violence continuing in Saharanpur on Wednesday, one more person was killed while several were injured.
One person was killed and at least 13 others were grievously injured on Tuesday evening as groups of Thakurs targeted Dalits who were returning home after attending a public meeting addressed by Bahujan Samajwadi Party leader Mayawati in Shabbirpur village.
For their failure to control the caste clashes in Saharanpur yet, the UP government has suspended the District Magistrate (DM) Nagendra Parsad Singh and the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), SC Dubey, while Divisional Commissioner NP Agarwal and DIG JK Shahi have been transferred out of the district.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has dispatched a team of top officials led by Home Secretary Mani Prasad Mishra to Saharanpur.
An official spokesperson said Bablu Kumar has been posted as SSP, Saharanpur, Pramod Kumar Pandey will be the new DM.
While the BJP government is blaming Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati’s public meeting on Tuesday for the fresh eruption of violence after, the Dalit leader accuses the “casteist forces” in the BJP and RSS for the Thakur-Dalit clashes in Saharanpur and the deteriorating law and order situation in UP.
“The saffron brigade has got a free hand to carry out communal and casteist activities to harass people… everyone needs to remain vigilant,” she said.
The Congress party too has blamed the BJP government for failing to protect Dalits and demanded an independent probe into the violence.
The Adityanath government meanwhile has announced a compensation of Rs 15 lakh to the family of the person killed on Tuesday and Rs. 50,000 each to all the injured.
“They butchered us like sheep”
“They butchered us like sheep”, is how the 80-year-old Phool Singh, one of the grievously injured Dalit victims now in a Meerut hospital described the attack by some Thakurs to the Times of India.
“They stopped our car. Then they came inside and tried to severe my head with a sword. I raised my hand to protect my head and it got almost cut. Then they attacked my leg with the sword and I could feel the blade cutting through my flesh and half of the bone. They butchered us like sheep.”
Other badly injured Dalit victims also being treated at Meerut’s Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial College told the Times of India they had been attacked with swords, cleavers, spears and knives by groups of people who had their faces masked. The attacks were launched when the Dalits were returning from a public meeting addressed by Mayawati in Shabbirpur village of Saharanpur district.
Rajesh Kumar told the Times of India: “What has happened in Saharanpur in the past month is very wrong. Dalits have been targeted, houses burnt and people have been attacked. I had gone to Mayawati’s meeting because it is important for Dalits to unite.
Dalits have been targeted by the upper castes in several districts of UP – Saharanpur, Sambhal, Moradabad — since the BJP’s coming to power in the state two months ago.
As reported earlier by Sabrang India, angered by the caste atrocities, some Dalits have already converted to Buddhism, some others have declared a plan of doing so, while still others have threatened to convert to Islam.
Over 50,000 Dalits from UP, Delhi and elsewhere in north India braved the blistering heat and defied the Delhi police to stage a massive protest at Jantar Mantar in the nation’s capital last Sunday.
The “state is set for the struggle” against anti-Dalit atrocities, the lawyer and founder of the Bhim Army, Chandrashekhar had declared at the rally.
The trigger for the ongoing violence in Saharanpur was pulled on May 5 when Thakurs lodged a full scale attack on Dalits in Shabbirpur village of Saharanpur district in UP. They burnt more than 58 houses along with 4 shops, motorcycles, vans, provisions etc, looted jewellery and seriously injured 14 Dalits, including women and children.
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