Will not support SP unless it clears stand on SC/ST quota in promotions: Bhim Army

“Akhilesh Yadav’s party MP tore the Bill on quota for promotions for SC/ST in Parliament. And then we are talking about fighting elections together. He should make his stand clear on the issue to get our support. He should spell out clearly whether he supports the Bill or not. Meanwhile, Mulayam Singh Yadav is saying that Narendra Modi should get a second term. What’s the point of us voting for the gathbandhan then?” Bhim Army founder and chief Chandrashekhar Azad said during a press briefing in Delhi.

Bhim Army is organising a protest rally at Jantar Mantar on March 15 to press for its various demands including release of those jailed during protests against the SC verdict on dilution of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.

Bhim Army sources indicated that the organisation was supporting BSP, but felt that Mayawati had got a raw deal in the gathbandhan given that there was no surety that SP’s core vote bank would be transferred to BSP. “Our community is going to vote wherever Mayawati says, but will it be reciprocated by SP. We need to ensure that candidates from the Bahujan community do not get a raw deal and SP makes its stand clear on our rights,” a Bhim Army leader said.

Azad said his outfit’s fight was against the BJP and he would put up candidates in against Narendra Modi and Union Minister Smriti Irani whom he held responsible for the death of Hyderabad Dalit student Rohit Vemula.

“We will put up a candidate against Narendra Modi in Varanasi and Smriti Irani in whichever constituency she chooses to contest from. If the Opposition candidate is strong, we will support him,” he said adding that Bhim Army was not entering election and would put up independent candidates from the Bahujan community.

Calling the BJP government at the Centre, not just anti-Dalit but also weak, Azad held the government responsible for the February 14 Pulwama attack. “You are able to detect half a kg of beef in the house of Akhlaq (a Muslim man killed by a mob at Dadri in UP for possessing cow meat), but can’t find 300 kg of RDX being smuggled into the country?” Azad asked.

The Bhim Army chief, who was jailed for over a year under the National Security Act by the Yogi Adityanath led UP government following violence in Saharanpur over Dalit-Thakur clashes in 2017, also read out a long list of demands. These included revoking 10 per cent quota in government jobs for economically weak among the general category castes.

“Why should upper caste get quota. Quota was imagined on grounds of social discrimination. It should be revoked. Upper caste already has disproportionate representation in government jobs,” Azad said.

Among his other demands were reservation for Muslims, reservation for SC/ST and minorities in private jobs and the judiciary, revival of the Chamar Regiment in Army, ban on all intoxicants, use of donations received by places of worship for public good and ease of norms in getting gun license for Dalits.