Muslims being targeted in UP, framed in false cases: Mayawati

She also flayed incidents of vandalising idols of B R Ambedkar in the state and asked the government to take appropriate steps. "In the SP government, Brahmins and Dalits were oppressed selectively. named after them (Dalit icons) changed considerably...In the same way, now, the present BJP government is also running," she alleged. "Now even the idol of Baba Saheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar is being broken.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Friday alleged that besides Brahmins and Dalits, Muslims are being targeted under the BJP regime in Uttar Pradesh. She also flayed incidents of vandalising idols of B R Ambedkar in the state and asked the government to take appropriate steps.

"In the SP government, Brahmins and Dalits were oppressed selectively. Now in the present BJP government, along with them, there is a lot of oppression of Muslims as well. They are being framed in false cases, which is very sad," Mayawati charged in a series of tweets in Hindi. "Idols of the messiah of Dalits - Baba Saheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar - great saints and gurus were broken in SP government, and names of districts and institutions etc. named after them (Dalit icons) changed considerably...In the same way, now, the present BJP government is also running," she alleged.

"Now even the idol of Baba Saheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar is being broken. The incidents of Varanasi and now in Jaunpur are extremely condemnable. The government should take appropriate steps in these matters," Mayawati said. In Jaunpur, some persons desecrated Ambedkar's statue in Mishrapur village in Sujanganj area two days back.

When people got to know about it the next day, they protested after which police lodged FIR against six people. Ambedkar's statue near the Panchayat Bhawan in the Gadkhara village in Varanasi was also vandalised last week, prompting people to stage protest for several hours.

They blocked the main road and staged a protest for several hours. The agitated people demanded arrest of the guilty and building a new statue. Senior district officials rushed to the spot and got the damaged statue replaced by a new one.

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