Independent MLA from Mehsana district of Gujarat, Jignesh Mewani, said that all possible efforts were being made to prevent division of Dalits votes in Uttar Pradesh during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
He said that atrocities against the Dalits had registered a sharp increase in Uttar Pradesh after the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party government came to power in the state in March 2017.
Mewani reached Chutmalpur village of Saharanpur to meet Bhim Army president Chandrashekhar alias Ravan on Wednesday and touched the feet of Chandrashekhar's mother Kamlesh Devi.
The Bhim Army chief was arrested after Dalit-Rajput clashes in Saharanpur in April 2017 and National Security Act was invoked against him. He was recently released from Saharanpur jail.
Talking to media persons, Mewani said that the UP government had unleashed atrocities on Dalits and their leaders were being persecuted. "Chandrashekhar was arrested and the NSA was invoked against him by the government only to crush the agitation of Dalits for their civil rights," he said.
When asked about Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati disowning the Bhim Army, the Gujarat MLA said, "Behenji (Mayawati) can say anything but we are committed to preventing the division of Dalit votes in the general election." Chandrashekhar announced that Bhim Army would seek permission from the district administration and if permitted it would hold a public meeting at Saharanpur on October 9.