Bhima Koregaon Raids: Arrests of ‘Maoist sympathisers’ is government terror, says Mayawati

Lucknow, Aug 29: Outraged over nation wide raids by Maharashtra police on homes of several prominent activists and subsequent arrests, BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday slammed Narendra Modi government in the Centre.

"This is government-sponsored terror and height of misuse of government agencies," the Bahujan Samaj Party chief said.

The violence that followed the Bhima-Koregaon celebration was a conspiracy to instil fear among Dalits and supporters of Dalit activists. "Bhima-Koregaon celebration exhibits Dalit pride," she said.

She alleged that the government is trying to create a sense of fear in the minds of people. The government was trying to intimidate poets, lawyers, activists, human rights advocates, professors and intellectuals. The BSP chief even termed the arrests as a tactic to divert attention from the failures of the government

"Instead of following the legal procedure against people who were named in the FIR regarding the Bheema-Koregaon violence, the NDA government was victimizing Dalit leaders whose lives were open books," she said.

The Maharashtra Police had on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.