Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has asked her cadres to "search for the cook" who cooked the food for BJP national president Amit Shah when he feed with Dalits during his visit to Jogiyapur village in Varanasi two days ago.
Party sources said Mayawati believes the cook was not a Dalit but someone from the upper caste. Party zonal coordinator, Dr Ram Kumar Kureel confirmed the directives have been received and they will soon find out who cooked food for Shah during his visit to the village.
Kureel claimed that though 250 people came along with Shah, only 50 had lunch which shows the casteist mindset of the saffron brass. "The rest did not eat with Dalits," he said. Moreover, the place where lunch was served is dominated by members of Bind community which belongs to most backward class and not Dalits. "Shah brought a few Dalits along, sat with them and had lunch just to send out a political message," he said.
A senior BSP leader maintained it's a tragedy that sharing a meal with Dalits had become a ploy to lap up Dalit votes especially during the election time. "This only means they want to make Dalits keep feeling oppressed," said a BSP functionary.