Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Mahendra Singh Tikait may have apologised for his alleged derogatory and casteist remarks against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP chief Mayawati — he was arrested and granted bail after he turned himself in today, maintaining that the remarks were “a slip of the tongue” — but in a Dalit locality in his Sisauli backyard, there’s a deafening silence, the fear of a caste backlash palpable.

On Tuesday, even as Tikait supporters claimed that the standoff with Mayawati had nothing to with caste, a crowd collected nearby, raised anti-Dalit slogans and set fire to an effigy of the BSP leader. The slogans grew louder as the crowd walked past Dalit homes. Today, after Tikait’s arrest, some Dalits said they feared that they would be the target of Jat ire.

Speaking to reporters, close associates of Tikait maintained that there was nothing much to his remarks about Mayawati, that he had used terms “very common” in these parts. There were no differences, they said, between Jats and Dalits in Sisauli.

Sehensar Pal, Jansath tehsil president of the BKU, said: “There is an organic link between the Jats and the Dalits. We both work on land — the only difference is that we own some land and they are agricultural labourers.”

But people close to Yograj Singh, the BSP’s Jat MLA from Khatauli who doesn’t quite get along with Tikait, said that Dalits in the village were too scared to speak about the insults they have to put up with.

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