A day after Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati’s threat to reconsider support to the newly-elected Congress regime, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said his government would examine the cases registered against Dalits who had participated in the Bharat Bandh organised on April 2 last year over the alleged dilution of the SC/ST Act.
“The cases were lodged against Dalit protesters... How many of them were actually guilty is a matter of investigation,” Mr. Gehlot told reporters at the State Congress headquarters here. He said those who were innocent were also booked sometimes, and added that no innocent person should be framed in a criminal case.
In an indication of the seriousness with which the Congress has treated Ms. Mayawati’s warning to the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh governments, Mr. Gehlot said the BSP chief's demand was “natural”. “She may be right in her perspective... The [State] government will look into it and examine the cases,” he said.
Mr. Gehlot expressed gratitude to Ms. Mayawati for extending outside support to his government. “I appreciate and thank Ms. Mayawati for giving the BSP’s support without the Congress formally asking for it,” he said. In Rajasthan, the Congress won 99 of the 199 seats for which elections were held, falling just short of a majority in the 200-seat House. The BSP then offered outside support of its six MLAs.
Ms. Mayawati had warned that the BSP would reconsider its support to the Congress governments in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh if they did not act swiftly and withdrew the cases registered against “innocent people” in connection with Bharat Bandh. Violent incidents took place in several towns of the State during the bandh and one person died in Alwar.