Kharge to address rally in poll-bound MP’s Dalit-dominated Sagar region

Satyaprakash Sharma

BHOPAL: In the series of organising rallies of Congress’ national leaders in divisional headquarters in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, party president Mallikarjun Karge will address a public meeting in the Dalit-dominated Sagar region on Tuesday.

Earlier, on August 12, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public rally in the region and laid the foundation stone of the temple of the Dalit icon, social reformer, and mystic poet Sant Ravidas.

Ahead of the Assembly polls, scheduled in November-December this year, a vying to woo Dalit votes is witnessed between BJP and Congress, the cardinal political outfits of the state.

“The BJP-led state government failed to curb the atrocities against the SC and ST communities. The upcoming elections are a chance to throw down this tyrannical government and Kharge ji comes from the SC community, he is coming to make the community aware”, Congress co-in-charge of the state Shiv Bhatia told Millennium Post.

“However, our party president Kharge ji’s tour was scheduled on August 13 in Sagar but due to this flurry, the BJP government held a PM Modi’s programme related to the SC community there to fail our rally”, AICC secretary Bhatia, who looks after the preparations of the public rally, said.

The Dalit voter has a major influence in many Assembly seats of the Bundelkhand, Gwalior-Chambal, and Rewa regions of the state. In the 2018 Assembly polls, it is considered that the indifference of the Dalit voters to the BJP was one of the major factors of its debacle.

The Sagar area has a substantial Dalit population and so both parties are trying to woo the community voters in different manners.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi has addressed two rallies in the Jabalpur and Gwalior divisions of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh during the last two months.

According to the information from the office of former Chief Minister Kamal Nath, the Congress president will arrive at the state capital, Bhopal by a special plane on August 22 at 10:45 am then after he will take off to Sagar on the chopper. Kharge will address the rally at the Kajlivan ground of the city. Congress state Chief Kamal Nath will be with him during the tour. Former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, former Union Ministers Arun Yadav, and Suresh Pachouri will also attend the rally.

Kharge has recently highlighted the alleged atrocities on SCs in MP, arguing that STs and OBCs were being insulted in the BJP-ruled state.

MP reports a very high incidence of alleged atrocities on SC and ST including the feudal pockets of Bundelkhand, NCRB data.