JOIN USFacing Opposition fire over a Dalit issue, the BJP on Friday latched on to the killing of a Dalit member of the party in the Trinamool Congress-ruled West Bengal and organised a protest in the national capital to paint rival Mamata Banerjee as anti-Dalit.
Outside the Banga Bhavan here, top leaders of the saffron party, along with the newly inducted Trinamool leader Mukul Roy, vociferously protested against the brutal murder of a 18-year-old man in the Purulia district of West Bengal, calling the Mamata government as "hatyari sarkar" (killer government).
The agitation, organised by the BJP's Scheduled Caste wing under the leadership of the party's general secretary in charge of West Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya, comes in the backdrop of the BJP facing repeated attacks from the Opposition on various issues pertaining to Dalits.
There is a perception that the Modi government's hold over the SC community is slipping and could cost it in upcoming polls.
The BJP is keen to correct the perception and its leaders are not missing any opportunity to launch a counterattack against the Opposition-ruled states if any such incident is reported there.
The Trinamool Congress government has been under attack from the BJP ever since the body of its youth wing's worker Trilochan Mahato was found hanging from a tree near his home in Purulia district earlier this week.
An unsigned handwritten note in Bangla found near the body of Mahato stated that he was "punished for working for the BJP" during the recent rural polls in the state, according to the police.
The BJP also accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of shielding the killers of its workers in the state.
The Trinamool Congress, however, has rejected the charges against its government, terming the accusations "as baseless and concocted".