Protests manufactured, alleges U.P. BJP chief

Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya has described reports of BJP leaders being asked to leave the public meetings of the Dharma-Dhamma Chetana Yatra, following former state BJP office bearer Daya Shankar Singh’s objectionable remarks about Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, as a manufactured event.

BJP national president Amit Shah had to cancel his appearance at one of these meetings, scheduled for Saturday, fearing a backlash. The yatra, led by Buddhist monk Dharma Viriyo, is travelling to at least 1,400 Bodh Viharas, mostly in Dalit-dominated areas of Uttar Pradesh, and is supportive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

‘Hecklers planted’

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Maurya said: “Please realise, this Dhamma-Dharma Chetana Yatra is not a programme of the BJP. Buddhist monks who are on this yatra are those to whom Behen [sister] Mayawatiji made promises, but ended up betraying. They are on a yatra to expose that. She terms herself a Dalit ki beti (daughter of a Dalit); instead she has become Daulat ki beti (daughter of wealth). If during the programme people are planted in the crowd to attack our leaders or create a controversy, it will not affect the message going out to society,” he said.

Mr. Maurya insisted that the party would be able to recover from the events of the past week. “The day this incident [State BJP leader Daya Shankar Singh’s objectionable remarks on BSP chief Mayawati] took place, the BJP took swift action, realising its responsibility as the world’s biggest political party. I apologised, in the Rajya Sabha Finance Minister Arun Jaitley apologised, the one who made these remarks was made to apologise, removed from his post and the party. “After this, the issue should have ended. Behenji, however, induced her supporters to take to the streets, and the kind of language they used was also highly objectionable. This kind of language is not acceptable to anyone, Dalits or otherwise. She has sold the votes of the poor, and traded on it, which is why she failed to win a single seat in the 2014 general elections,” he said.

“As a woman, Behen Mayawatiji has failed other women. While the BJP has punished those who said objectionable things about her, she has rewarded her party leader Nasimuddin Siddiqui, more responsibilities in the party instead of punishing him for leading protests where very objectionable things about the women in Daya Shankar Singh’s family were said. The punishment for murder is hanging, whoever dies and whoever commits the murder. She is attempting appeasement of minorities to build a Muslim-Dalit vote bank on this issue by rewarding Siddiqui. It won’t work,” he said.

Terming Mr. Daya Shankar Singh’s wife Swati Singh a Tejaswi Mahila (a woman with a forceful personality), Mr. Maurya was however non-committal whether the BJP would give her the ticket in next year’s Assembly polls in U.P.

Asked what he thought of the recently concluded Yatra by the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Maurya was dismissive. “Who the Congress chooses to project is their own business but since you ask, they have projected as chief ministerial candidate an elderly lady, Sheila Dikshitji, who I respect a lot, but is seen as being from Delhi. Raj Babbarji (UPCC chief) is associated more with Mumbai. These choices reflect a lack of alternatives in the Congress. It would have been better, since Rahul Gandhi is unlikely to be Prime Minister of this country, to try his hand at being projected as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh,” he said.