Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Wednesday condemned the “injustice and harassment” meted out to Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, terming his suicide another “painful example” of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s “extreme” casteist attitude.
Calling the research scholar’s death a “painful and appalling” incident, Ms. Mayawati said it “is becoming increasingly difficult for the Dalit society to get justice” in the country. She demanded that immediate legal action be taken against the two Union Ministers — Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya — and vice-chancellor of Hyderabad University, P. Appa Rao.
“The attitude of two senior ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet towards the Dalit scholar that ‘if you are against the policies of the BJP government, you are an enemy of ours and will be harassed through government terrorism,’ is blatantly undemocratic and condemnable,” the former U.P. Chief Minister said.
The growing incidents of “excesses and atrocities” showcased the “RSS-mindset” of the government and its Ministers, she said.
“The attitude and thinking of the BJP and its ministers towards Dalits, backwards and Muslims is brutal, casteist and inhumane.”
Ms. Mayawati said the cases of atrocities and injustice against Dalits, backwards and religious minorities are on the increase. The BJP government’s attitude towards such criminals has not been as per law but kind and generous giving such elements support.
BJP leaders, MPs and Ministers regularly engage in casteist and disrespectful remarks, which spoil the social, political and communal atmosphere in the country and gives some elements the courage to commit crimes, she added.
A day after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi visited Hyderabad, the BSP also sent a delegation led by Veer Singh Advocate, BSP Rajya Sabha member, to UoH to meet the family of the deceased scholar.
