Dalit face missing,BJP still out to climb bandwagon

The Manch has its agenda in place for the next five months. The first programme — held in Lucknow on Sunday — was attended by national general secretary Thavarchand Gehlot,along with national spokesperson Ramnath Kovind and the national secretary Ashok Pradhan.

Diwakar Seth,state coordinator of the Manch,said,“We will initially start with the mahanagars.” This will be followed by programmes in districts and then protests and dharnas at the tehsil level.

“We are opposing the Ranganath Mishra Committee report,which says that Dalits who have converted into Islam or Christianity should also be given reservation under the SC quota,” he said. “We will tell people what steps different BJP governments at the state and the Centre had taken for them.”

But the party’s problem is the absence of recognisable Dalit faces in the state.

The only name mentioned is that of former MP Ashok Pradhan,who is little known outside Aligarh and Bulandshahr districts. The Manch is relying chiefly on Rajnath Singh and party state president Ramapati Ram Tripathi.

Party insiders,however,say this lacunae will not help to strike a chord with the state’s Dalit population.

“Gehlot is not well known even in the party,” a senior leader pointed out. “On Sunday,it was found that only senior workers knew who he was. He too seemed to be finding it difficult to relate with the people here.”

Like Gehlot,Kovind too is an unknown face in UP.

The state BJP,he said,needs Dalit faces. “We have to fight against the Congress and the BSP who are better placed in this aspect,” he added.