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Wary of rival Maya hits streets to regain dalit support

Last Updated 23 May 2017, 12:16 IST
Apparently wary of the rise of the 'Bheem Sena', a dalit outfit, which is attracting the community members, especially the youths, after it took on the powerful 'Thakur' community, BSP supremo Mayawati on Tuesday hit the streets after several years to win back dalit support.
 
Mayawati visited Shabbirpur village in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district, about 500 kilometres from here, where members of the 'Thakur' community had torched dozens of houses a few days back following a dispute over taking out a procession.
 
Mayawati, who drove down to the village from Delhi, visited the victims of the violence and also announced monetary assistance for them.
 
''The incident at Shabbirpur had occurred owing to the biased and discriminatory attitude of the state government,'' she told reporters.
 
She said that the Yogi Adityanath government had failed to ensure safety of the dalits in the state and vowed to launch an agitation against the government if attacks on dalits did not stop.
 
Anti-government slogans rented the air, when the BSP supremo arrived at the village.
 
Sources said that minor clashes broke out in the village again on Tuesday a few hours before Mayawati's visit.  
 
Mayawati, according to the sources here, had hit the streets after a long time. ''She had visited Shabbirpur almost over three decades back with BSP leaders,'' said a BSP office bearer here on Tuesday.
 
Sources said that Mayawati was wary of the rising influence of the 'Bheem Sena', whose founder Chandrashekhar was wanted in connection with the recent violence at Saharanpur.
 
''Bheem Sena has been attracting dalit youths across the state....any rise of Bheem Sena  will hurt the BSP more as it banks heavily on the dalit support in the elections,'' said the office bearer.
 
 BSP could win only 19 seats in the recent assembly polls in the state. The party had also lost in its traditional dalit strongholds triggering alarm bells within the organisation.  Several senior leaders have left the party in the past few months.
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(Published 23 May 2017, 12:16 IST)

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