Attack on Dalits: BJP plans to rein in cow vigilantes

New Delhi: It’s trouble time for saffronites who have been trying to play the backward card in the high-stakes elections that lie ahead in UP and Punjab. With the BJP’s move to woo backwards taking a major hit, the Sangh Parivar is looking at options on how to contain the “lumpen elements” masquerading as cow vigilantes.

The BJP, that has been demanding a “Congress-mukt Bharat”, was hit back by the Congress on Wednesday with the slogan that the BJP wants a “dalit-mukt Bharat”.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday rushed to Una and met members of the dalit family allegedly assaulted by “gau rakshaks” for skinning the carcass of a cow. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP president Arvind Kejriwal is expected to visit Gujarat on Friday.

Sensing the danger of being thrashed in the coming electoral battle in UP and losing its grip over Gujarat, the RSS and VHP on Wednesday joined forces to “condemn” the attacks on dalits and cow protection groups.

The situation for the BJP worsened after its UP unit vice-president, Dayashankar Singh, called BSP supremo Mayawati a “prostitute”. “We believed the BJP was ahead of the SP and we could edge past the BSP. This remark has consolidated Mayawati’s position for the forthcoming polls,” a senior BJP leader said.