In UP, dalit politics takes ugly turn
By Sanjay Pandey
The battle for dalit votes in Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly elections
are due in 15 months' time, between the ruling BSP and the Congress,
has taken an ugly turn after the appointment of BSP supremo Mayawati's
former principal secretary and her bete noire P L Punia as the
chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC).
Mayawati knows that Congress made Punia the chairman of the NCSC only
with an eye on the dalit vote bank in the state and Punia has been
doing everything at his command to wean away dalits from the BSP fold.
Punia, a Lok Sabha member from the dalit dominated Barabanki
constituency, has made UP his base and has been taking up the cases of
atrocities on the members of the scheduled and other backward castes
from the day he assumed charge.
Punia's visits to dalit families, who have been victims of attack of
persecution at the hands of the administration, has been giving
sleepless nights to Mayawati. The recent spurt in cases of atrocities
on dalits has come as a boon for Punia.
State's failure
Whether it is the Sheelu rape case in Banda, where a BSP legislator
allegedly raped a minor and got her arrested on trumped up charges, or
rape and murder of a dalit girl in Lucknow, Punia was the first to
reach their families. He not only promised inquiries but also publicly
chided the state government for failing to ensure protection to
dalits.
Punia has launched a nationwide dalit awareness campaign under which a
series of divisional level meetings of members of dalit community are
being held where they are being made aware of their rights and welfare
programmes for them. A book containing the vacant positions in
government jobs under reserved category and statistics on cases of
atrocities on dalits would also be distributed at the meetings.
The last of the divisional level meeting is slated at Sitapur to be
followed by a massive meet in Lucknow. "The dalits have begun to
understand that they are not getting any benefit in the present
dispensation. They cannot be fooled any longer," Punia says.
Mayawati's dislike for Punia was evident, when the state government
changed the rules of protocol making it optional for the government to
accord facilities to visiting central ministers. Since Punia enjoyed
the status of a central minister, the state government would have been
bound to extend him the facilities accorded to any visiting central
minister.
In an apparent bid to tame Punia, the Mayawati government has also
ordered re-opening of some old cases pertaining to sanctioning of
loans to some industrialists from the Pradeshik Investments and
Industrial Corporation (PICUP) while Punia was its managing director
in 1992.
According to government officials some of the firms, which have been
given loans by PICUP, had defaulted in repayments. Incidentally at
least two such inquiries in the past into the matter did not find any
evidence against Punia. "It's a desperate bid to implicate me in the
cases," Punia said referring to the probe.
The state government has instructed its officials not to cooperate
with Punia and that is why he failed to elicit any response from them
when he expressed his desire to meet them to discuss the dalit
atrocities cases.
Punia was Mayawati's principal secretary and a co-accused in the Rs
176 crore Taj Heritage Corridor Scam case. He later joined Congress
and contested the 2007 assembly polls but lost narrowly.
He, however, had the last laugh when he trounced the BSP nominee in
2009 Lok Sabha polls from Barabanki despite all efforts by Mayawati to
ensure his defeat.
The battle for dalit votes is expected to intensify in the days to
come as it is they who would decide whether Mayawati would have a
second innings in UP or not.
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