BSP protests in UP, police look for Dayashankar Singh

This comes amid the police carrying out raids in Lucknow and Ballia to trace Singh and detained his brother. “Police said raids have been conducted in Lucknow and Ballia to arrest Singh. In Ballia, Singh’s brother Dharmendra was taken into custody from his house,” SP Manoj Jha said. ADG (Law and Order) D S Chowdhary added: “Police teams have raided several places, but Singh is absconding.”

The BSP had started mobilising its workers from across the state since Wednesday, soon after Singh’s remarks caused an uproar in the Rajya Sabha. By 8 am, over 2,000 had assembled at the protest site. The dharna, which threw traffic out of gear, forced the administration to stop traffic on most busy routes around the protest site since 8 am to 2 pm. A BSP worker was also injured while trying to set an effigy ablaze.

Watch Video: The Implications Of Dayashankar’s Remarks On Mayawati That Left The BJP Red-Faced

While terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Amit Shah and party supporters “anti-Dalit”, the workers claimed BJP had instructed Singh to make the derogatory statement. Siddiqui said: “Singh was asked by BJP to make the remark so that the issue of atrocities on Dalits in Gujarat raised by Mayawati could be stopped. He used derogatory language on the instructions of BJP. The SP government is silent and has not arrested him.”

BSP leaders were found raising slogans such as “Dayashankar kutte, apni behen pesh karo, apni beti pesh karo (Dayashankar you dog, present your sister before us, present your daughter before us)” on the loudspeaker. When asked, Siddiqui said: “The workers raised the slogan so that Singh could say the same remark to them as he did about Mayawati.”

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The hurriedly-called protest, which began with highly-charged slogans, saw BSP leaders asking supporters to “take revenge by ballot”. Most leaders asked those present at the protest to “hold their anger till the 2017 elections and elect a BSP government”.

State president Ram Achal Rajbhar said: “The protest must have sent a signal to Singh and others that whoever raises a finger at Mayawati, his finger will be cut. You all should continue to prepare and take revenge of this insult in 2017 by making behen Mayawatiji chief minister of UP for the fifth time. This enthusiasm should not cease until every single vote has been cast in favour of BSP.”

“BJP had promoted Singh by making him contest two legislative council elections. The party must also be punished for this… Wherever there are BJP governments — be it Chhattisgarh, Gujarat or Haryana — Dalits are persecuted. BJP is the problem for Dalits. Here in UP, the SP government is also in hand-in-gloves with BJP,” said Leader of Opposition Dinkar. Former Assembly Speaker Sukhdeo Rajbhar said the “protest must spread across the state”. “We will do whatever we have to for Behenji’s dignity,” he added.

Reacting to the protests, BJP leader and Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the BJP has already taken action against Singh. “This issue is over. We took action against him. Now what else should we do? What he said was completely objectionable. He was removed from his post, and later on suspended too,” he claimed.