Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, while addressing a press conference responded to the allegations of BSP links with Bhim Army. She cleared that the party members in Saharanpur believed that the apparent ‘Dalit Army’ was a product of BJP.
Condemning the allegations, she said that her brother and other senior BSP leaders have no connection with the Bhim Army. Notably, an intelligence report earlier stated that BSP controlled the Bhim Army, which is considered the root of violence in the area.
As per reports, Mayawati’s brother was in contact with the chief of the Bhim Army, Chandrasekhar, via a third party. The report further states that the BSP supremo had sought special permission to visit Saharanpur by a helicopter. Although, it did not provide any detailed information about the sequence of events since last month.
A state of unrest continues to hit the normalcy of Saharanpur. Saharanpur has been witnessing caste-based violence since late April. The situation got worse after a Dalit man was killed and several injured in violence on Tuesday. As a repercussion to the violence, mobile Internet and other messaging services had been suspended in the district on Wednesday night. In order to trace the Bhim Army Chief Chandrasekhar, the police have also put 25 phones under surveillance.
While the UP government faces a tough time bringing back normalcy in the area, the state on Wednesday transferred Saharanpur’s District Magistrate and Senior Superintendent of Police for failing to control the spread of violence in the region.
According to reports, the clashes between the Thakurs and the Dalits in the region had first been reported in Shabbirpur village in the month of April when the former had allegedly stopped the Dalits from installing a statue of B R Ambedkar inside the Ravidas temple.
