NEW DELHI: With eyes firmly on the high-stake election season, Congress is moving to mount an assault on BSP chief Mayawati on her home turf of dalit and Muslim welfare.
Top constitutional panels on Thursday singled out Uttar Pradesh for "poor track record" on atrocities on dalits and Muslims — statements which left chief minister Mayawati squirming and hurling back charges of "political motive" at the national commissions for SCs and minorities.
With these panels a part of the Congress umbrella, headed by party insiders, the inescapable view is that the lead player of UPA is looking to fire from their shoulders to force the BSP to defend its fort and confine itself to Uttar Pradesh. National panel for SCs chairman Buta Singh, on a visit to Kaanti, a remote dalit-dominated village in Allahabad gripped by tension over purchase of land by a retired cop, said UP "continues to be at the top in atrocities against dalits in states". Coincidentally, National Commission for Minorities chief Mohammad Shafi Qureshi said in Lucknow that UP "tops in discrimination and atrocities on Muslims" and asked the state to take steps to restore faith of Muslims in the system.
With attacks on her "forte" on her own soil, Mayawati advised Singh against"misusing the constitutional body for political purposes" in a detailed reaction. The fight between Congress and BSP started after Mayawati made it clear that she would look to damage the former in its strongholds, prompting a rattled Congress to look for counter moves. Congress strategists felt that she would have to be attacked on her dalit politics to limit her to UP. It is argued that she cannot don the old firebrand dalit role because of her "sarvjan" slogan to win over upper castes. Party heir apparent Rahul Gandhi's visits to dalit households in UP and his potshots on the BSP regime have left the dalit outfit enraged.
The plan started unfolding when the national panel spotted a chink in Mayawati's armour in the "dilution" of SC atrocities law. While the chief minister had issued circulars to say that cases of rape and murder be registered under the stringent law only after preliminary probes confirmed the charges, Buta Singh cited the move as anti-dalit. The panel against found fault with the state's amendment as it called a directive to police to act against the complainants for filing false FIRs as a "subtle threat" to discourage SCs from reporting cases.
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