BJP’s Dalit leaders ‘missing from action’

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 28

As the embattled BJP government in Haryana fought to ward off mounting criticism in the face of rising incidents of crime against Dalits through last week, its Dalit parliamentarians, ministers and legislators were “missing” from all the action.

Usually, the first line of defence in any government is usually the elected representatives of the community “under attack”, as they are sent as emissaries.

However, after the death of two Dalit children in Faridabad’s Sunped village, the mysterious death of a teenager allegedly in police custody in Gohana, the death of a witness in a murder case in Hisar and that of a Dalit boy in Yamunanagar, everybody from Ambala (reserved) MP Rattan Lal Kataria to ministers Krishan Lal Panwar and Krishan Bedi, were conspicuous by their absence from the scene, as were the Dalit legislators.

Sources in the BJP said Dalit leaders did not visit the homes or villages of the “victims” since Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was holding fort and monitoring the developments directly. Contrary to this, there is a general perception that the Chief Minister was left alone to battle the developments as they happened in quick succession.

The BJP leaders were also at pains to point out that the government took a conscious decision against fielding Dalit leaders essentially because these were not caste-based crimes to begin with. “There was little sense in sending leaders of the community to handle the situation since that would have meant that we ourselves were giving crime incidents a caste tinge. Also, the CM represents all communities. When he has gone, the other leaders can afford to be kept out,” a BJP legislator said.

The “inexperienced” MLAs, it seems, too, are reluctant to visit homes where there is scope to stoke a crisis. “Had we gone to their homes and made some statement, like we are expected to, it leads to some controversy or the other. The outcome of anything positive we want to do is that we are blamed for being ‘inexperienced’. So, the best way to deal with the situation is to stay out of controversy,” an MLA said.

BJP leaders pointed out that the rally on Valmiki Jayanti in Kaithal was the party’s answer to the Opposition which was crying itself hoarse on the incidents and forcibly trying to portray these as caste crimes to take the sheen off the “successful” completion of one year of BJP’s rule in the state.

They added the rally, as also the Bihar elections, had kept its leaders occupied and that the BJP was conscious of taking all castes along.