Dhamma Chetna Yatra: Forget 50,000 Dalits, BJP-backed yatra struggles to fill a hall in Agra

Even at the new venue, BJP members failed to fill the hall of the small school located in the Agra’s Kamla Nagar area.

“It was quite shocking that most people in the hall were either monks or BJP workers. They even called street children and beggars to the venue as the older audience wasn’t available,” said an eyewitness, who stays in Kamla Nagar and attended the event.

While party workers were busy in clicking selfies, the monks present were either asleep or least interested in what the political leaders had to say.

Read | Searching for Dalits: A yatra by Buddhist monks taking BJP to Dalits across UP

At one point, the BJP MP from Agra, Ramshankar Katheria, had to appeal to party workers from the stage to maintain “pin-drop silence”.

“Ek dum aawaz na aaye. Jo jahan khada hai, wahin khada rahe,” Katheria announced.

While addressing the gathering of nearly 400-odd people, including the monks, BJP members and locals, party’s UP president said: “It’s the BJP that turned Ambedkar’s village in MP into heaven. It’s Modi who never forgets to visit the Buddhist temples in any county he visits,” said Maurya.

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About the BSP’s protest along the yatra route, Maurya said that the BJP will not let anyone hurt the monks.

Hitting out at the Samajwadi Party-led state government, Maurya added, “Mujhe afsos hai ki jahan mera desh tarakki kar raha Hai.. Wahi mera pradesh pichad raha hai. (I’m sorry to say that when my nation is developing, my state is lagging behind).”

The leader of the Dhamma Chetna Yatra, Dhamma, Viriyo Mahathera (87), who also heads the Akhil Bhartiya Bhikshu Mahasangh, also attacked BSP chief Mayawati for not doing enough for the Dalit community.

He described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “good man” in whose hands the future of Dalits was secure.