Weekly Political Roundup: Dalit outrage and politics

The voices of the rebel are being raised within BJP by the Dalit leaders while the top leadership tries to woo the Dalit votes.

The days of bandhs are back. After the Bhima-Koregaon incident, the Dalit community leader Prakash Ambedkar has called for a Maharashtra Bandh. This week, several Dalit organizations called for a Bharat Bandh to protest the Supreme Court order in SC/ST act. While wooing Dalits has been the major focus of BJP this week, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal priority seemed to be another apology. The AAP chief after apologising to Nitin Gadkari and Kapil Sibbal said ‘Sorry’ to Arun Jaitley. The week, however, has been remarkable for the Press with I&B Minister Smriti Irani issuing guidelines regarding accreditation of journalists allegedly “creating and spreading” fake news, which was soon revoked by the PM himself and opposition jumped on the issue to slam the Modi government.

MP CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan stoked controversy again by giving MoS status to five religious leaders and Five YSRCP MPs resigned from Lok Sabha over Andhra Pradesh Special status demand.

Here’s all the political news from the week in detail:

1. Bharat Bandh: Dalit community protests rock the country

On Monday, April 2, several Dalit Organizations took it to the street to protest the recent amendment by the Supreme Court in the SC/ST act. The vigorous protest that ensued took a violent turn killing as much as 10 people from the states of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Gujarat etc. The centre filed a review petition in the Supreme Court, however, the Court turned down the petition filed by the Centre.

The opposition Indian National Congress stepped up its attack on PM Modi. Congress President Rahul Gandhi took it to twitter to slam BJP. He said, “To keep Dalits at the lowest notch in Indian society is in the DNA of RSS/ Modi.” Further lashing out at the BJP, he alleged that the Modi government uses violence against those who challenge this thinking. Expressing the support of Congress to the Dalit agitation, he said that the Congress salutes the thousands of Dalit brother-sister who have taken to streets demanding protection of their rights.

You can read the detailed reports on Bharat Bandh: Dalit community protests rock the country, here:

Bharat Bandh: Congress attacks PM Modi on increased Dalit atrocities under BJP rule #BharatBandh

Bharat Bandh against SC/ST act amendments pointless: Ram Vilas Paswan #BharatBandh

Bharat Bandh: Here’s the reason behind controversy around SC/ST act

2. Arvind Kejriwal’s another apology:

Continuing the apology spree, Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi chief minister, resorted to another attempt of damage control and made an apology to Arun Jaitley, the Union finance minister. As per the reports, other AAP leaders Ashutosh and Raghav Chaddha along with Kejriwal have made an apology to Jaitley in a bid that nears the amount of Rs. 10 crores in the DDCA defamation case.

Kejriwal’s apology comes after he made his apology to quite a good number of leaders that include Kapil Sibbal, Bikram Majithia and Nitin Gadkari. Kejriwal is fighting a suit filed against him in a Delhi court the amount of which is 10 crores. It remains unknown that if Jaitley has accepted Kejriwal’s apology or not.

You can read the detailed report on Arvind Kejriwal’s another apology:

Arvind Kejriwal says ‘sorry’ to Arun Jaitley in DDCA defamation case

3. “Fake News” guidelines by I&B Minister Smriti Irani:

On Monday, the Ministry of Information and broadcasting created quite a stir by issuing the guidelines to tackle the Fake News menace. It charged the Press Council of India and News Broadcasters Association with regulating the cases related to the fake news complaints. However, the guidelines were only meant for accredited journalists and kept social media out of its ambit.

The guidelines triggered widespread outrage among the journalist fraternity. Following the outrage, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the I&B Ministry to withdraw its order. The opposition, however, took the chance to attack the Modi government.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi tweeted, that the government’s U-turn proves that panic is setting in the government. He said, “Sensing mounting anger on the “fake news” notification, the PM orders a U-Turn on his own order. One can clearly see a loss of control and panic setting in now. #BasEkAurSaal

You can read the detailed report on “Fake News” guidelines by I&B Minister Smriti Irani, here:

Opposition says ‘fake news’ guideline an attempt to curb press freedom

Government crackdown on ‘fake news’ or crackdown on journalists?

PM Modi asks Smriti Irani to roll back the ‘fake news’ guidelines

4. The Religious Ministers inducted by MP CM Shivraj Chauhan:

The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chauhan in a first of its kind move, inducted five religious leaders in the government giving them MoS status. These Five Babas include Computer Baba who had launched a campaign against Shivraj Chauhan and had threatened to expose him in the Narmada Scam.

Hariharanand Maharaj, Bhayyu Maharaj, Narmadaand Maharaj, Pandit Yogendra Mahant and Computer Baba will enjoy the perks that are given to the ministers because of their membership of a committee that has been made for the conservation of the Narmada river. Being the members of the committee, they have been granted the ministerial status, said an official of the GAD.

On the other hand, the Congress has termed this move to be a political gimmick by the government of Shivraj Singh Chouhan to cash in on more political points and make good use of the kind of cloud these babas have. On the other hand, Pankaj Chaturvedi, spokesperson of the state Congress said, “This is also an effort by the chief minister to wash off his sins. He ignored the conservation of the Narmada”.

You can read the detailed report on The Religious Ministers inducted by MP CM Shivraj Chauhan, here:

Political row sparked off by 5 ‘Minister of State’ in Madhya Pradesh

5. BJP Dalit MPs speaking out against the Party:

Not only the Dalit community that has been angry with the Modi government, now, the Dalit MPs and MLAs from inside the BJP and NDA have started to speak against the top leadership. A Dalit MLA wrote to PM Modi complaining about UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s working style. In the letter, he had said that he was thrown out by the UP CM for raising the issue of caste discrimination. On Saturday, another Dalit MP spoke out against the party alleging that in last four years, no substantial work has been done by the government for the welfare of the Dalit community. The BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh Yashwant Singh wrote a letter to PM Modi and said that he felt his abilities are not being put to use.

This is followed by a recent streak of violence in Rajasthan where the Anti-Dalit protestors set up the house of BJP Dalit MLA on fire.

You can read the detailed report on BJP Dalit MPs speaking out against the Party, here:

Mob protesting Bharat Bandh violence sets the house of Rajasthan BJP Dalit MLA on fire

“My abilities are not put to use”: Dalit BJP MP from UP writes to PM Modi