NEW DELHI: Taking serious note of the recent Dalit agitation and the defiant notes by four party MPs, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah will soon meet the party’s Dalit MPs to defuse tension, sources said.
On Saturday, Shah held closed-door discussions with his key aides at the party headquarters to assess the level of disenchantment.
The move comes at a time when more Dalit BJP MPs are gearing up to shoot off letters to the Prime Minister. The BJP wants to assuage the growing discontent among Dalits as the party is building its campaign for the Karnataka polls where Dalits account for 19 per cent of the voters. It also cannot afford to alienate Dalits ahead of the 2019 general elections.
“The violent April 2 Dalit agitation was not just about the Supreme Court order on the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. Dalit students and teachers had been agitating against the apex court order on UGC wherein a department in a college was made a unit for quota, where vacancies come in a single digit, denying benefits to candidates from SC/ST backgrounds. We are under considerable pressure from our people who say SC/ST reservation is being undone,” said a BJP MP who did not wish to be named.
The BJP has 36 Lok Sabha MPs from 84 reserved constituencies for SCs, besides 27 from 46 for the scheduled tribes.
“Dalits believe their reservation in jobs and educational institutions is being diluted... Our own Dalit MPs have gone public with their letters to the PM instead of discussing in the party forum. Therefore, the PM and BJP chief will soon call them for a meeting,” said a senior BJP functionary.
BJP sources stressed that the four Dalit MPs who struck defiant notes had come to the saffron stable from the BSP.
Meanwhile, PM Modi has directed all party MPs and leaders to spend a night in villages with high SC/ST population.