Saharanpur clash: Mayawati blames BJP

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is solemnly responsible for continuous violence in Saharanpur.

In a statement released by Mayawati here on Wednesday, she said casteist elements of BJP and Rashtria Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are using government machinery openly to disturb the communal harmony of the area. She said that government has given free hand to saffron brigade to attempt atrocities, violence and criminal activities in the area. 

“After having damaged the communal atmosphere to gain political and electoral victory, mischievous and criminal elements in the BJP and RSS are now bent upon unleashing casteist violence,” the BSP chief claimed. Innocents were being targeted while the administration is hand in glove with the BJP and RSS leaders, she claimed.

Attacking the BJP, she said, those who had “condemned Dalit icons all their lives” are today proclaiming themselves to be the saviours of Dalits and backwards for votes. Mayawati had on Tuesday visited Saharanpur and met those affected by caste-based violence that took place earlier this month. However, shortly after she left, fresh clashes occurred claiming the life of a 24-year-old Dalit youth and injuring several others.

Mayawati said that ever since the BJP came to power in UP, law and order had deteriorated, as was the case in other BJP-ruled states. The Dalits are demanding their constitutional rights but the “casteist forces in the BJP and RSS” are out to crush them, she said. A four-member BSP delegation will meet Chief Minister Adityanath to demand adequate compensation for the victims, stern action against the guilty and free treatment for the injured, she said in the statement.