BSP rejects Bhim Army’s appeal

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has rejected Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad’s appeal to party president Mayawati to join hands with him to take on the Bhartiya

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has rejected Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad’s appeal to party president Mayawati to join hands with him to take on the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).

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A senior BSP leader, who did not wish to be named, termed the letter released by the Bhim Army a ploy to create confusion among the Dalits.

The BSP has already launched an awareness campaign in the Dalit-dominated areas to counter the Bhim Army’s propaganda, the leader said.

The state and district unit leaders have been directed to make the party cadre aware of Chandrashekhar’s plan to divide Dalits at the BJP’s instance, he said.

Mayawati was the tallest Dalit leader who had not only devoted her life to the uplift of Dalits, but also the members of the community considered her as their role model, he said.

Mayawati had already stated that if the Bhim Army leadership or other Dalit organisations were really interested in empowerment of the community, they should work under the banner of the BSP to take forward the movement launched by Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and Kanshiram, he said.

The BSP leader said earlier too ‘behanji’ (Mayawati) had snubbed Chandrashekhar for referring to her as bua (aunt) before the 2019 Lok Sabha election. She had made it clear that she had no relation with him, he said.

Addressing party cadre during the election campaign, Mayawati had alerted Dalits about the Bhim Army. She had said rather than serving the Dalits, fringe organisations were more interested in serving the interest of their leaders.

Describing Chandrashekhar as an agent of the BJP, she had said the ruling party tacitly supported the Bhim Army in west UP to weaken the BSP’s hold on the Dalit community.

Riding on the support of these fringe organisations, the BJP planned to make inroads among the scheduled caste voters, she had said.