Dalit youth assaulted by cow vigilantes in Una to join RSS yatra: report

Una: A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-affiliated Dalit group has claimed that the four youth who were assaulted by cow vigilantes in Gujarat’s Una, will join a march organised as part of the Sangh Parivar's ambitious outreach to Dalits.

Bhante Sanghpriya Rahul, president of Bharatiya Bauddha Sangh, claimed that, "The four will participate in the yatra for about 10-12 days when it enters poll-bound UP," said a report.

The yatra is part of the Sangh Parivar's effort to bring Dalits to the Hindutva mainstream. It is expected to help with the project of consolidation of Hindus into a political group, and simultaneously stop conversions to Christianity.

The chief patron of Bauddha Sangh is BJP MP and former Union minister Satyanarain Jatia, in whose name the invitation to people to join the outreach programme has been sent, said the report.

The yatra will begin from Alipur Road in Delhi on October 14, the date when B R Ambedkar converted to Buddhism.

Jignesh Mewani, a Dalit leader, meanwhile sees this as an attempt to cause a split in the Dalit movement. He was quoted as saying that he would surely try to prevent the four youth from attending the march.