JALANDHAR/NAWANSHAHR: BJP SC Morcha’s ‘Dalit Insaaf Yatra’ was on Thursday foiled by the police at the very point of its origin in Jalandhar after rounding up former Union minister Vijay Sampla, Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma and some other leaders of the party.
BJP had announced to gherao chief minister’s residence in Chandigarh to protest against the alleged atrocities on the Dalits and other issues relating to the community. But, apprehending trouble with the yatra as farmers were opposing it, the Jalandhar police had made elaborate arrangements to stop it.
Facing heat over farmers’ issue, BJP now wants to raise the issue of “atrocities on Dalits in Punjab”. While it was Sampla who had announced the yatra, later state BJP president Ashwani Sharma also threw his weight behind it and he was scheduled to flag it off.
Minister of state Som Parkash also addressed the BJP workers from a cargo vehicle, on which yatra was to be taken out. He said the Dalits were facing atrocities in Punjab. Sampla and Sharma also spoke on the same lines and mainly focused on the incident of a few persons forcing a Dalit man to drink urine in Jalalabad.
It is learnt that senior police officials led by DCP Gurmeet Singh present at the site had also conveyed to senior BJP leaders that they would not be allowed to proceed further. As they announced to start the yatra and Sharma flagged it off, the police stopped the BJP workers. Thereafter, Sampla and a few other senior leaders were taken away by the police in buses to Circuit House and later released.
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BJP men, farmers clash in Nawanshahr
Nawanshahr: Although the police had foiled the BJP SC Morcha’s ‘Dalit Insaaf Yatra’ at Jalandhar itself, a scuffle took place between farmers and local BJP leaders at Nawanshahr at around 2.30pm on Thuersday.
Activists of at least three leftist farmers’ unions had gathered near Dr B R Ambedkar’s statue close to the bus stand on Phagwara-Chandigarh highway as they came to know that Sampla was supposed to stop there.
The leaders of district BJP unit and SC Morcha leaders were also there to welcome Sampla. But, when they came to know that the yatra had been stopped in Jalandhar, they decided to leave after garlanding the statue of Dr Ambedkar.
As local BJP leader Jeewan Kumar ascended to the statue and garlanded it, two farmers quickly pulled him down. But, he again tried garlanding the statue, following which the scuffle broke out. In the melee, BJP district president Dr Poonam Manik received an injury on her hand. Jeevan Kumar and another BJP worker also received some gashes. Later, the police intervened to control the situation.
Meanwhile, Punjab BSP president Jasbir Singh Garhi has said the Dalit Insaaf Yatra was a drama by ‘anti-Dalit’ BJP and they would wash the statue of Dr Ambedkar in Nawanshahr with milk, as it has been ‘polluted’ by BJP leaders.