BSP supremo Mayawati lashed out at the BJP-led government in Maharashtra on Tuesday, 2 January, over the violent clashes that broke out in Bhima Koregaon on Monday.
Asserting that the incident could have been prevented or stopped, Mayawati said:
The government should have made proper security arrangements. The government there belongs to the BJP and they must have been responsible for the violence. It seems like BJP, RSS and casteist powers have a hand in this.BSP chief Mayawati
According to CNN-News18, the BSP chief also demanded a proper investigation into the incident and called the BJP and RSS anti-Dalit, saying that they wanted the so-called lower castes to be slaves.
Stone-pelting and violent clashes broke out between Dalit groups and Marathas following an argument, during an event which was to mark the 200th anniversary of the Koregaon battle near Pune, on Monday.
In the battle that took place in 1818, the British Army comprising Dalits had defeated upper-caste Peshwas.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that his government will seek a judicial inquiry into the violence at Bhima Koregaon, which left one person dead and many more injured.
A case has been registered against two persons at Pune’s Pimpri Police Station and more than 100 people have been detained over different locations across Mumbai, where the violence spread.
Chairperson of Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh, Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar called for a bandh across Maharashtra on Wednesday. Local pro-Dalit groups called for “rasta roko” protests in Bhima Koregaon, Aurangabad, and other parts of Maharashtra on Tuesday.
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