BSP supporting Bhim Army: UP police report

Lucknow: Even as uneasy calm prevailed in Saharanpur on Thursday, with most areas wearing a deserted, curfew-like look, an intelligence input received by the Yogi Adityanath government has sent shock waves in political circles.

The report states that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is supporting the Bhim Army, which has been accused of inciting caste violence in Saharanpur. BSP president Mayawati denied having any links with the Bhim Army. In a statement, she accused the BJP of trying to malign her image with “such reports”.

According to sources, the nine-page report prepared by UP police and local intelligence units claims that BSP president Mayawati’s brother Anand Kumar, who was recently appointed party vice-president, has been in touch with Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad through a third party.

Though the report does not say whether the BSP vice-president has been providing financial help to the Bhim Army, it clearly states that there has been communication between the BSP and the Bhim Army.

Police officials said that it is being presumed that BSP leaders are also providing funds to the Bhim Army to create social disharmony.

Interestingly, till now, it was believed that the Bhim Army was emerging as an alternative to the BSP in western UP.

An intelligence wing official said that they had put 25 phone numbers on surveillance to trace Chandrashekhar and also to track the activities of the Bhim Army. “In one of the taped conversations, a Bhim Army volunteer is heard saying that Chandrashekhar has asked them to identify a village with less Thakur population and eliminate them with the help of boys from outside the village,” the source said.

Saharanpur has been facing series of clashes between Dalits and Thakurs for the past one month. The clashes began over the installation of an Ambedkar statue on Ambedkar Jayanti, which became the reason of protests by local Thakurs. Dalits retaliated by thwarting a Thakur procession on Maharana Pratap Jayanti.
 
Suspended SSP Subhash Chandra Dubey had told reporters that Dalits were repeatedly provoked by the Bhim Army through inflammatory posts on social media and WhatsApp messages.
 
It was because of this that mobile, Internet and messaging services were suspended in the violence-hit district on Wednesday night after two more deaths were reported in the clashes.
 
The state government also suspended the district magistrate N.P. Singh and SSP Subhash Chandra Dubey after their failure to control the situation.
 
Clashes between the upper caste Thakurs and Dalits were first reported from Shabbirpur village in April when Thakurs allegedly prevented them from installing a statue of BR Ambedkar inside the Ravidas temple in the village.
 
Things escalated on May 5 when a Dalit group allegedly objected to a procession of Thakurs to mark the birth anniversary of Rajput king Maharana Pratap. This triggered violence in which one person was killed and over 15 injured.
 
Though the situation has started returning to normal earlier this week, a visit by Ms Mayawati on Tuesday sparked off a fresh round of violence that led to two deaths on Wednesday.

The half a dozen- odd violence- hit villages including Shabbirpur and Mirzapur wore a completely deserted look as paramilitary forces staged flag marches.
 
The new district magistrate Pramod Pandey and SSP Babloo Kumar visited the affected areas and met the injured persons admitted to the district hospital.