Agitation

Centre urges states to beef up security in view of April 10 bandh call

dalit-protest-arvind-jain-6 Members of the dalit community stage a protest during a countrywide strike against dilution of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act | Arvind Jain

Drawing lessons from the dalit agitation in the country last week, which saw several clashes between protestors and policemen, leaving nine people dead and several injured, the Union home ministry on Monday shot off an advisory to all states, asking them to take necessary precautionary measures in view of calls on social media for Bharat Bandh on April 10 by some groups.

Incidentally, the MHA advisory has come after there were criticism from several quarters of no Central advisory being issued to states, warning them of the large scale protests during the dalit agitation on April 3, which turned violent, resulting in loss of lives and damage of public property. The states worst affected were Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.

In an interview with THE WEEK recently, UP DGP O.P. Singh said the state police did not receive any Central advisory or alert, warning them of the dalit agitation growing to alarming levels in the country, and it was the local police that contained the situation, which was going out of hand.

The home ministry, on Monday, decided not to take any chances, and took note of the calls being made by certain groups for a Bharat Bandh on Tuesday.

In its advisory, the MHA has asked states “to beef up security and make appropriate arrangements to prevent any untoward incident, including issue of prohibitory orders, if necessary.”

It has asked for intensification of patrolling in all sensitive locations so as to prevent any loss of life or damage to property.

“The advisory stressed that district magistrates and superintendents of police be made personally responsible for ensuring that law and order situation remains firmly under control in the areas of their jurisdiction,” said the home ministry.

In the last few days, some groups have actively been circulating messages calling for a Bharat Bandh to oppose caste based reservation in jobs and education. The April 3 bandh had been observed by several dalit groups to protest against the Supreme Court ruling on the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

TAGS