SRINAGAR, DEC 13 (PTK): Days after his expulsion from the BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit, Gagan Bhagat on Wednesday accused the state party leadership of being “anti-Dalit” and alleged he was victimised for being one.
He claimed that the party’s debacle in the recently concluded assembly elections in five states was a result of its “anti-Dalit” ideology. Going against the party line, Bhagat had on December 3 moved the Supreme Court challenging the dissolution of state assembly. The apex court, however, dismissed his petition on Monday, saying there was no merit in the pleas filed by the former legislator.
He was expelled by the BJP on the same day with immediate effect for his “continued indiscipline, anti-party and anti-Jammu activities.” “I am a Dalit and faced victimisation from the party which is 100 per cent anti-Dalit…I was always given the position where my caste fits,” Bhagat told reporters.
“I have always faced discrimination because of the anti-Dalit attitude of the party leadership. Scheduled Castes gave seven reserved seats to the party in the state but it gave no representation to the community in the previous government. No ministerial berth was given (to community members) nor any higher position in the party,” he alleged.
He added that whenever someone highlights the truth, he is dubbed anti-party. Earlier in July, Bhagat was suspended by the disciplinary committee of the party over his alleged role in the abduction of an ex-serviceman’s daughter, a charge he and the woman rejected.
He said he is not against the BJP’s national leadership. Bhagat claimed that the party’s state leadership was dictatorial and it would face a drubbing in the next assembly election as the people had seen its real face. He alleged that the BJP had done nothing for the Jammu region despite being in power in the state and at the Centre. (PTK)
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