New Delhi: The Bheem Army, a Dalit group from western Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday accused the BJP governments in the state and at the Centre of trying to "suppress" those fighting for the rights of the downtrodden.
The group alleged the UP government wanted to frame its leader Chandrasekhar Azad under the stringent National Security Act (NSA).
Its members, including Supreme Court lawyer Colin Gonsalves and Hindi writer Anil Chamaria, told news persons in New Delhi that the BJP government in UP was working against a particular caste to save members of another in Saharanpur district, which witnessed inter-caste clashes in April-May this year.
The Saharanpur Police had earlier said that Chandrashekhar provoked Dalit men and indulged in violence at the Maharana Pratap Bhavan on the city outskirts. The charge sheet filed by the police in court showed there was no evidence against the accused. No arms were seized from him, Gonsalves claimed.
"It has no information about anyone injured. In the CCTV footage presented by the police, the accused could be seen pacifying the mob. So, an attempt to impose the NSA despite all these things is unjustified," he said.
Citing media reports, Chamaria claimed the Bheem Army was gaining ground in the country. "The government is acting against it so that the Dalit movement could be checked," he alleged.
He also asked the government to refrain from imposing the NSA on Azad and to withdraw its announcement of rewards on the arrest of other accused in the Saharanpur violence.
Azad was arrested in connection with the Saharanpur violence from Himachal Pradesh in June.
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