The BJP on Friday accused National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) Chairperson Pl Punia of acting like a Congress spokesperson and mocked at its vice-president Rahul Gandhi and BSP leader Mayawati for shedding “crocodile tears” over the killing of two Dalit children and recalled violent incidents against Dalits in the past regimes.
BJP spokesperson and Dalit leader Vijay Sonkar Shastri who is also a former chairman of the Commission, termed as “unfortunate” Union Minister Gen (retd) VK Singh’s controversial ‘dog analogy’ while the latter was replying to queries on the incident.
The NCSC on Friday issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh DGP and the Delhi Police Commissioner, directing them to register FIR against Singh for his dog remarks on Dalit killing in Faridabad.
Taking suo motu cognisance of his comments, the NCSC also asked Uttar Pradesh Police to submit an action taken report within 10 days based on its directive of filing an FIR against the Union Minister.
“Notices have been issued to DGP Uttar Pradesh and SSP Ghaziabad to register FIR against Singh. They have also been asked to submit an action taken report by November 2,” Punia said.
The BJP, however, questioned credentials of Punia and alleged that the Commission was not working properly under him and Dalits were not getting justice.
“Punia must explain whether he wants to act like a Congress spokesperson or somebody in a constitutional post. Can he act as a party leader while holding the NCSC chief postIJ We have strong objections to his comments.
The BJP leader claimed the killing was not a case of crime targeting Dalits but due to enmity between two families and maintained that local BSP MlA besides the State administration had said so as well.
Asked about criticism by allies like Jitan Ram Manjhi and Ram Vilas Paswan, he noted that Singh had expressed regret and senior party leaders like Home Minister Rajnath Singh had also commented on it.
Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi over his visit to the Faridabad home of the victims’ family, Shastri said his “Dalit prem (love)” had surfaced again. “People like him visit Dalits, do photo-ops and then forget them. They can do nothing but shed crocodile tears,” he said.
Shastri recalled cases of violence against Dalits when the Congress was in power in Haryana and the Centre as well and recalled that many of them had fled Mirchpur village as no action was taken against the accused. Unlike this, the Haryana Police has acted “swiftly” and arrested eight of the 11 accused. The CM has also ordered a CBI probe, he said.
He spoke in the same vein about BSP leader Mayawati. The BJP leader attacked her for doing nothing for the community in the State when she ruled it and claimed her “sun had set”.