LUCKNOW: After a flurry of dissenting voices which reflected brewing resentment among the Dalit ranks of ruling BJP, Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath broke his silence on Friday claiming that his government was neither targeting any particular section of society nor discriminating against the downtrodden and deprived.
A day after BJP’s Dalit MP from Etawah Ashok Dohre and Chhote Lal Khaiwar from Robertsganj wrote a separate letters to PM Narendra Modi petitioning him against alleged atrocities on Dalits post-April 2 Bharat Bandh, CM Yogi assured the party lawmakers that his government was only acting on the basis of evidence and was following the rule of law.
“The police are acting on the basis of CCTV footage. Cases are being lodged against those who have been captured in CCTV camera indulging in arson, vandalism, stone pelting and firing,” said the CM while responding to media persons.
The CM also sought to clarify that his government had never discriminated – neither before the Bharat Bandh nor after it. “No one is being falsely implicated in the cases,” said Yogi.
In his letter to PM, BJP’s Etawah MP Dohre on Thursday had claimed that Dalits, particularly in UP, were being targeted by the police and cases were registered against them after April 2 agitation against the Supreme Court order on the SC/ST Act. In his letter, Dohre stated that Dalits were being dragged out of their houses and humiliated.
On Friday Yogi, countered Dohre allegations that the police were in possession of video footage exposing people who resorted to violence and took the law in their hands. “No innocent person is being targeted,” Yogi said.
Recently, BJP Dalit MPs including Sadhvi Savitri Phule of Bahraich, too had organised an agitation in Lucknow last week claiming that reservation rights of the Dalits were under threat.