BJP

Gujarat

Jivraj Park

Prakash Pandya

Chamundanagar

Congress

Jaynarayan Vyas

Posters have cropped up at Dalit societies across the city warningcampaigners to stay away. Set up by Bhim Sena, the hoardings warn the ruling party members that their presence was not welcome in Dalit-dominated areas. Over the past year, several atrocities have been committed against Dalits inand this move is being seen as a call for justice.The posters state that the BJP as a ruling party has been unsuccessful in stopping major atrocities against Dalits such as those at Una, Thangadh, and Ankolali, among others. They start with the line ‘Prohibited for BJP’, boldly proclaim that the vicinity is a ‘Dalit Vistaar’ (Dalit area) and warns, ‘BJP election nominees cannot come here to campaign’. The signs have been spotted in areas including, Vasna, Geeta Mandir, Sarkhej and Vejalpur. Bhim Sena leader Manish Sondharwa says, “The community does not want to meet their members till justice is given in atrocity cases and crime rate against Dalits falls.”There are around 1.43 lakh Dalit voters in Ahmedabad alone. Residents say the posters are a natural response to BJP’s policies and lacklustre attitude towards plight of Dalits in the State., 49, who resides near Jivraj Park says, “Society members feel this is a good way of expressing anger towards BJP. The signs have been put up as party is conducting door-to-door campaign currently.” Hetul Parmar, 29, a labourer fromin Jivraj Park says, “If they want to come here only every five years, what is the point of meeting them?When they can’t solve our local problems, how can we expect them to solve the problem of atrocities?” Meanwhile,spokesperson Jayrajsinh Parmar says, “The BJP’s right wing ideology is not for the poor, only for the rich. This mentality reflects in the administration.” Countering this, BJP spokespersonsays, “These posters seem to be the handiwork of a few and cannot be taken as voice of the community.”