As CM Chouhan kicks off yatra for Ravidas temple, Cong targets BJP over Dalit atrocities

Of the 230 seats in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, 35 are reserved for the SCs, who are believed to play a decisive role in the Bundelkhand, Gwalior-Chambal and Vindhya regions. In the 2013 Assembly elections, the BJP swept over 80% of the seats in these regions, winning 28 of the SC-reserved seats while the Congress won only four. However, in the 2018 elections the Congress managed to win 17 of these reserved seats, while the BJP’s tally came down to 18.

While the BJP is banking on its development programmes and celebrations of Dalit icons as part of its “social engineering” strategy to consolidate SC votes, the Congress has been trying to paint Madhya Pradesh as the state topping in atrocities against Dalits, after a series of such cases were reported in July.

The BJP’s SC Morcha national president Lal Singh Arya told The Indian Express, “This is not a yatra for votes. The government had announced the construction of the Sant Ravidas temple long ago and acquired 11 acres of land to spread the message of social harmony. Soil from over 50,000 villages will be collected to construct the temple, which will also house a library and art museum.”

Arya said, “We have undertaken some policies that have benefited the SC voters. We have also acted on criminal elements in the state. It is wrong to state that MP is No 1 in Dalit atrocities. The Congress is anti-Dalit. In all their years in power, they have not given Dalits important positions in power. We have, on the other hand, celebrated Ambedkar whom the Congress has forgotten, and built areas of prominence around Ambedkar in the state and country.”

The state BJP’s SC Morcha chief, Kailash Jatav, told The Indian Express, “Some of the policies of this BJP government have proved really helpful to the SC community. The Kaushal Vikas Yojana has provided loans to help people from the SC community set up factories, the Seekho Kamao scheme has helped with a stipend that will make them financially stronger. There are several schemes for women in the state that have benefited us. These policies, coupled with the celebrations of Ambedkar and other Dalit icons like Sant Ravidas, is our main area of focus.”

The Congress has, meanwhile, intensified its attack on the Chouhan government over the recent spate of atrocities against Dalits in the state.

On July 22, a Dalit man claimed his face was smeared with faeces after his greased arm accidentally brushed against a man from a different caste, in Chhatarpur. On July 6, the police arrested six persons in connection with the alleged thrashing of two Dalit youths, who were then garlanded with shoes and paraded, in Shivpuri.

After the Chattarpur incident, Kharge alleged that Madhya Pradesh had the highest crime rate against Dalits as per the NCRB data. “Our Dalit, Adivasi and Backward Class citizens of Madhya Pradesh have been suffering humiliation under BJP’s misrule for decades… BJP is shattering Babasaheb Ambedkar’s dream of social justice every day,” Kharge tweeted on Monday.

State Congress president Kamal Nath has also attacked the BJP government, alleging: “Atrocities on Dalits and tribals are at their peak in the 18 years of BJP’s misrule in Madhya Pradesh.”

“The time has come when the ideology of keeping such a mentality towards Dalits and tribals is ended and Dalits and tribals are given their constitutional respect in Madhya Pradesh,” Nath said.

The Congress’s SC Morcha head Pradeep Ahirwar told The Indian Express that the BJP’s Ravidas Yatra was a “yatra for votes”.

“We welcome the construction of the Ravidas temple. But why do the yatra when the election is near? In BJP rule, Dalits are made to eat faeces, they are garlanded with slippers and paraded, their land is being encroached upon. We have become economically weaker and so has our education levels. The BJP is not addressing our core issues and wants to do this yatra to somehow come back to power,” Ahirwar said.