The Madhya Pradesh Congress on Saturday held a protest against what it claimed was a steady rise in the number of crimes against Dalits and tribals under the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state. However, the plan by the protesting Madhya Pradesh Congress Scheduled Tribe Cell (MPCTC) to march to New Market area here and set afire an effigy of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was foiled by police.
The protest comes amid national outrage after a video showing a man, identified as Pravesh Shukla, urinating on a tribal youth in Sidhi went viral on Tuesday. MP Assembly polls are likely to be held at the end of the year.
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"We were stopped near the Red Cross hospital crossing on Link Road by police who had put barricades to prevent us from marching to New Market. However, we staged a sit-in and set afire Chouhan's effigy there itself," MPCTC chief Pradeep Ahiwar told PTI over phone.
While Ahirwar claimed 40 Congress workers were detained and later set free, Habibganj Assistant Commissioner of Police Virendra Mishra said they foiled an attempt to burn an effigy of the CM and dispersed the protesters.
"Crimes and atrocities against Dalits and tribals have shot up under the Chouhan government. The urination incident in Sidhi is a horrific example of it," Ahirwar alleged.
Ahirwar said seven persons recently assaulted two Dalits, blackened their faces and garlanded them with shoes in Varkhadi village in Shivpuri district, while on Friday the Lokayukta police booked three IAS officers for irregularities in the sale of land belonging to tribals.
The Congress will continue to protest till excesses against Dalits and tribals stop, he asserted.