NEW DELHI:
BJP MP Udit Raj on Saturday alleged that members of his Dalit community were being "tortured" in various parts of the country following violent protests during the 'Bharat Bandh' earlier this week.
"Reports are pouring in that those Dalits who participated in agitation on April 2 are being tortured and it must be stopped," he said in a tweet.
"Dalits are tortured at large scale after April 2 country-wide agitation. People from Barmer, Jalore, Jaipur, Gwalior, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Karoli and other parts calling that not only anti-reservationists but police also beating & slapping false cases," he said.
All these places, incidentally are parts of states ruled by the BJP.
A worker of a Dalit organisation run by him in Gwalior was being tortured even though he had not done anything wrong, said Raj who represents North West Delhi in the Lok Sabha.
Dalit protesters had blocked trains, clashed with police and set fire to vehicles in violent protests across seven states on April 2 against the alleged dilution of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, leaving at least 11 people dead and many injured.
Earlier, three more BJP MPs from Uttar Pradesh, all belonging to scheduled castes, had written letters to Prime Minister
Narendra Modi expressing their unhappiness on the treatment of Dalits in the country.
BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh's Nagina, Yashwant Singh, in a letter to Prime Minister slammed the government for not doing "a single work for the welfare of Dalits in its four years in power".
“When Narendra Modi became the PM and made a statement that the BJP government will work for the welfare of the poor, Dalits and OBCs, it created hope in the heart of us all. But, nothing has been done for Dalits by the central government so far,” read the letter dated April 2.
Singh said there was no representation of Dalit Samaj in courts. “As a result, courts were coming up with new verdicts aimed at curtailing our rights every day,” he wrote.
“In the present situation, BJP’s Dalit MPs are victims of daily harassment from own Samaj. It has become difficult for us to respond,” Singh wrote.
In a similar letter to PM on Thursday, Etawah MP Ashok Kumar Dohrey had said Dalits and tribals across the country, especially in UP, are being framed by police in false cases after the protests, leading to a sense of growing insecurity among them.
Earlier, Robertsganj Lok Sabha MP Chhotelal Kharwar had written to Modi and accused UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath of scolding him when he went to take up an issue with him.
(With inputs from agencies)
