Maya hits out at Bhim Army chief

Smelling a rat behind the arrest of Bhim Army chief Chandrasekhar Azad by the Delhi Police on December 21, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati accused him of playing into the hands of “rival parties” and trying to dent the BSP voter base in Delhi.

Chandrasekhar had recently said that his party would field candidates in 15 Dalit and Muslim dominated constituencies in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.

In a series of tweets on Sunday, the BSP supremo wrote, “The Dalits have a common thinking that Chandrasekhar of Bhim Army is playing into the hands of Manuvadi parties, especially in the states where BSP is strong. He is trying to influence the BSP voter base by staging protest etc. and then going to jail. He is a resident of Uttar Pradesh but on the issue of CAA/NRC he is protesting at Jama Masjid in Delhi instead of UP. He gets involved in the protest and then goes to jail only because assembly elections are due in Delhi soon. Hence, party people are advised to beware of such people… the party will never take such elements no matter how much they try.”

Azad was arrested after he led a protest march from Jama Masjid in old Delhi against the amended citizenship law. He was sent to 14-day judicial custody by the Tis Hazari Court on Saturday evening.

On Thursday, Azad had taken to Twitter, vowing to form a political outfit for the interests of the Bahujan community and exhorted honest and hardworking youths to contribute towards it.

Bhim Army spokesperson Kush had confirmed that the party would contest the upcoming Delhi assembly elections.

“We have finalised about 15 seats in Delhi from where we will be fielding our candidates in the upcoming assembly polls. We will be targeting mostly Dalit and Muslim dominated seats.” he said, adding that the party would then focus on the panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Asked about hurting the interests of Mayawati-led BSP with the formation of the political outfit, Kush said, “Just like Saheb Kanshi Ram formed the BSP on realising that the RPI had deviated from its path, we are also forming an alternative. The entire Bahujan community feels that the BSP has deviated from its path and is weakening the Bahujan movement.”

“Today more than 80 percent of the BSP voters are ready to shift to Bhim Army once we float our political party. Many senior leaders have been joining the Bhim Army and many more are in the queue to join it,” Kush said.