The usually belligerent BSP chief has stepped back on the Gohana question. Mayawati has let off both the Congress government in Haryana and the UPA government on the looting and burning of more than 50 Dalit homes on Wednesday, only writing to the Prime Minister to express her displeasure and seek an independent inquiry.‘‘Now that it is clear the atrocities on the Dalits in Gohana were pre-planned by the perpetrators, with the full knowledge of the state and district authorities, I am writing to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, asking him for a free and fair investigation, like (by) the CBI, to book the culprits,’’ Mayawati said, in an exclusive interview to The Indian Express. ‘‘We will also demand for full compensation for the loss of property and homes of the victims.’’The BSP chief, who returned from a tour of Gohana on Friday, regretted that Dalits were still the target of upper-caste wrath and envy. ‘‘The victims of this attack were Valmikis, who are educated, employed and live reasonably decently,’’ said Mayawati, ‘‘they are not the slaves and bonded labour like other Dalits. Naturally, the Jats, who were the perpetrators, cannot stomach this political and social awakening of this community and a small local fight has escalated to such violence and destruction.’’Though Mayawati has accused Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda of complicity, she has not asked for his resignation. Says the former UP CM, ‘‘The CM is a Jat too, his government was aware there was going to be an attack on the Dalits as his own police officers had issued a warning to the Gohana Dalits to move out the day before. How can Hooda now defend himself saying the attack was spontaneous? What was his intelligence network doing then, if that was the case? It is clear the state government is involved, which is why I demand for an independent agency like the CBI to inquire into the attack.’’While Mayawati refused to talk about the Taj Corridor case, saying it is ‘‘sub-judice’’, she held forth on her month-long, country-wide yatra over the UPA’s delay in filling up the SC/ST job quota in the government sector. The 14-city whirlwind tour, to comprise state-wide rallies, from September 9 to October 5, will stretch from Raipur to Ranchi, Kolkata to Ahmedabad, Salem to Bhopal, Jaipur to Jammu, Hardwar to Hyderabad and New Delhi to Bangalore among other cities.‘‘I have written to the PM on reservations in jobs in the government and private sector, apart from bringing back reservation in private colleges, which the Supreme Court has done away with,’’ said the BSP chief. ‘‘We had raised these issues of reservation and employment during our meeting with the PM at the SC/ST forum last month.’’ ‘‘Of course, I am not happy with this government, which is why I am organising these rallies to highlight our discontent. However, I am willing to wait so that the PM cannot say we did not give them a chance to work on the issue.’’The BSP chief is equally satisfied with the Dalit protest against the incident.
