Atrocities against Dalits, tribals contribute to BJP’s woes in MP

Bhopal, July 24: Already facing high anti-incumbency due to its nearly two-decade long rule in Madhya Pradesh, back-to-back incidents of atrocities against Dalit and tribal communities seem to be adding to the woes of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the poll-bound state.
While the incidents of atrocities against the down-trodden communities have already made headlines across the state, what is more worrying that the cases are being reported from one particular area — the Vindhya region — causing more headache to the BJP with elections are just four months away.
Frequent cases of atrocities in Vindhya region — an upper-caste dominated area comprising districts such as Chhatarpur, Satna, Rewa, Sidhi and Singrauli — are creating resentment against the Shivraj SIngh Chouhan-led BJP government.
In the 2018 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 24 out of the 30 seats in the Vindhya region, while the Congress bagged the remaining six.
The latest incident of atrocity was reported from Chhatarpur district where a Dalit youth alleged that his face and body were smeared with human excreta by a man belonging to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.
Notably, Chhatarpur comes under the Khajuraho Lok Sabha constituency which is represented by state BJP chief V.D. Sharma, while Chief Minister Chouhan also belongs to the OBC community.
Notably, this was not the first incident when a Dalit was beaten up or tortured by people belonging to the upper caste in Chhatarpur district. Several incidents have been reported from this particular area wherein wedding processions taken out by Dalit families faced the wrath of upper caste people, forcing them to even take police protection while taking out ‘baraat’.
In September last year, a 35-year-old Dalit man was attacked by a group of youths belonging to the Thakur community for merely sitting on a chair. (IANS)