BJP MLA faces protest in Agra during Bharat Bandh

AGRA: BJP MLA from Agra (rural) Hemlata Diwakar was stopped from entering her own constituency by protesters during the Bharat Bandh on Thursday. The bandh has been in protest against the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill that was passed in the Parliament in July this year and which overrode the Supreme Court ruling diluting it. The agitators belonging of Artoni village of the district, which is a reserved constituency, told the lawmaker to not come here for seeking votes. Slogans were raised against the MLA, her party and the central government by the protesters.Diwakar was on her way to attend a condolence meet at the house of a party worker in the village. The protesters chanted “BJP murdabad”, “tanashahi nahi sahenge” (we will not tolerate authoritarianism) and “Modi hatao, desh bachao” (remove Modi, save the country) slogans as they gheraoed her vehicle.“I had no intention of disturbing the Bharat Bandh protesters. A few youths from the village stopped my car and started shouting slogans. Some of them were not properly dressed and I did not find it appropriate to talk to them,” said the MLA.Meanwhile, Fatehpur Sikri MP Chaudhary Babulal said, “From day one, I have protested against amendments made the SC/ST Act. It may sound illogical but people belonging to the general category and Other Backward Classes (OBC) should not have let it happen in the first place. I am not blaming anyone. When the SC/ST community had protested against the dilution of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act earlier, who stopped the upper castes people from coming out of their houses to support it.”