The Bahujan Mukti Party, a Dalit outfit, today merged with Loktantrik Janata Dal of Sharad Yadav, who called for unity among opposition ranks to unseat the Modi government in the Lok Sabha polls next year.
The BMP has pockets of influence among Dalits and its president V L Matang said Yadav's "honest politics and work for backwards and downtrodden" was the reason behind the merger.
"This merger will help in rallying around of opposition parties. The poor and disadvantaged sections of the society have been hit hardest by this government which has unleashed mobocracy. It is a big threat to democracy and the Constitution, and it must be defeated," Yadav told a press conference.
He claimed that the controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC) issue in Assam has been picked by the BJP deliberately in an election year to polarise people on religious lines.
"This government has no achievement to show and depends on controversial Hindu-Muslim issues to win votes," he said, demanding that the issue of illegal immigrants should be dealt with on humanitarian grounds.
An all-party delegation should be entrusted with the responsibility to carry out the Supreme Court's orders on the NRC as BJP governments cannot be trusted, he said.
He also lent his support to the Bharat Bandh call given by Dalit groups for August 9 and sought an ordinance on a law for atrocities against Dalits and tribals.
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