Dalit pelted with stones gets BSP ticket from Chakrata

Dehradun: Daulat Kunwar who rose to prominence after the incident at Punha Pokhri in the Jaunsar Banwar region in May last year in which upper-caste people allegedly pelted stones on him and Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Vijay when they were entering a temple along with a group of Dalits, will contest the forthcoming elections on a BSP ticket from the Chakrata constituency.
Kunwar said that the ticket was offered to him by BSP supremo Mayawati herself after he met her in Delhi earlier this month. Incidentally, Dalits make up almost 18% of Uttarakhand’s population and are a vote bank that is wooed by most parties. According to Kunwar, BSP supremo Mayawati would also be campaigning for him. “Behenji has assured us that she will visit Chakrata constituency during campaigning,” he added.
The activist who has been at the forefront of Dalit issues for many years — from agitating for the entry of Dalits into temples to fighting against bonded labour — said that if elected, he would first press for probe of the work done by state home minister Pritam Singh and BJP leader Munna Singh Chauhan who have represented the Chakrata area, along with “detailed investigation on whether the facilities meant for scheduled tribes of the area reached them or were availed of by others.”
He added that he will also press for the toning down of the substantial Army presence in Chakrata which he alleged had been responsible for the area not having attained its full tourist potential. “The presence of Army has suppressed the growth of Chakrata. Rather than becoming a boon for the local people, it has become a bane since tourism has not been able to develop in the area which is a security zone.”
Kunwar had contested from Punah Pokhri in the district council elections in 2014 as an independent contender. He lost by 200 votes to Congress leader Sukhbeer Singh.

Source: The Times of India