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News India News BJP reaching out to Dalits in Gujarat ahead of assembly polls
BJP reaching out to Dalits in Gujarat ahead of assembly polls

Mohua Chatterjee | Jun 25, 2017, 11.00 PM IST

NEW DELHI: With BJP concerned at the growing Dalit outrage against it, especially
in Gujarat where four Dalit youths were brutally beaten up by cow-vigilantes in Una
a year ago, and where assembly elections are round the corner, there are attempts
to heal the wounds and woo the Dalits back.
One such attempt "to bridge the gap between Dalits and other communities" is being
taken by RSS-backed Bharatiya Bauddha Sangh, said Bhante Sanghapriya Rahul, who
heads it.
To reach out to Dalits in Gujarat, BBS is planning a rath-yatra that will take off
on June 30, from BR Ambedkar's statue in Ahmedabad, move through villages for four
months and end at the Somnath temple, just before the assembly polls. One of the
main issues it will highlight is BJP choosing Dalit leader Ram Nath Kovind as its
Presidential nominee that shows its commitment to the Dalit cause.

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Apart from the Bauddha Sangh, RSS, Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Hindu Vahini
(of Yogi Adityanath) and BJP members will participate in the yatra, Rahul told TOI.
"Our attempt is to bridge the gap that has appeared between Dalits and others in
the state. We will carry the message that BJP has installed a Dalit in Rashtrapati
Bhawan and that the party's government is working for the welfare of Dalit people,"
he said. "We will carry the message of peace, plant a Peeple tree in village at the
spot where the rath stops, as a mark of harmony," he added.
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Interestingly, the Sangh's rath yatra will see a counter-mobilisation of Dalits,
being planned to commemorate one-year anniversary of the Una atrocities that
happened on July 11, last year, that sparked outrage across the country and
generated Dalit protests that pushed the ruling BJP to focus on Dalit outreach. A
march - Azaadi Koonch (Freedom March) for - will take off from Mehsana district on
July 12, after a gathering of victims of cow vigilantes in Ahmedabad to mark July
11, and wind up in Una, Banaskantha district "to fight against casteist forces, the
gau rakshaks, and the institutionalised murder of workers and farmers and the
destitution of thousands of unemployed youth," said Jignesh Mevani, Rashtriya Dalit
Adhikar Manch coordinator.
"In this country two Dalits are killed every day... them largely being victims of
mob violence. But the rulers today find it urgent to enact laws for protection of
cows and not against lynching of human beings. Hence as part of Azaadi Koonch we
would demand an effective law to address mob lynchings like Dadri or Una so as to
punish the perpetrators," Mevani said.
Beyond Una, violence has been erupting in Uttar Pradesh between Dalits and other
communities, since the Yogi Adityanath government came to office and the growing
popularity of Bhim Army, a Dalit outfit in the state, has forced the state to
arrest its leader Chandrashekhar.

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