Dalits asked to use soaps, scent before meeting Yogi

They perhaps feared that they could be acted against and wanted to ensure that chief minister Yogi Adityanath did not get ''stunk'', when he met these members of the dalit community.

In an incident reflective of the prevailing mindset of the people in the society today, authorities in Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar district reportedly asked members of 'Mushar' (an untouchable community, whose members are traditionally rat-catchers) community to wash themselves with soaps and shampoos and use scents before meeting the chief minister.

Adityanath, who was in Kushinagar on Thursday, visited the 'Mushar Basti' at Mainpur Kot village in the district, about 325 kilometres from here.

The members of the community were surprised, when they found senior district officials thronging their otherwise neglected slum in the past couple of days.

''New toilets were constructed...dusty roads were made pitched and lights were installed within no time,'' said a resident of the slum.

''We were also given scented soaps, shampoos and perfumes and asked to use them before going to meet the chief minister,'' said an elder member of the community.

The residents said that the officials also asked them to keep their homes neat and clean.

Quite apparently the officials did not want Yogi Adityanath to get 'stinking feeling'. District officials, when asked, feigned ignorance about the reports.

The incident was somewhat reminiscent of a similar happening at another village in the neighboring Deoria district a few days back, when Adityanath had visited the home of the BSF jawan Prem Sagar, who had been martyred in Jammu & Kashmir a few days back.

The authorities had laid pitched road, installed lights and also an air conditioner in the room where the chief minister met the family of the martyr. It was another matter that they took away the AC soon after Adityanath left the village.