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Varanasi: An election candidate has been found
murdered in near here amid a fierce battle to win the
votes of the country's "untouchable" caste.
His supporters said he had been killed by criminal
supporters of a rival "Dalit" party who feared he would
split their vote. The body of Bahadur Sonkar, a
candidate for the minor Indian Justice Party, was found
hanging from a banyan tree in Jaunpur constituency close
to the Hindu pilgrimage city of Varanasi.
The killing has highlighted the importance of the votes
of "Dalits" in this month's election – the nation's
poorest and most downtrodden people who do 'dirty' jobs
that the higher castes regard as 'polluting'.
They include butchers, tannery workers and those who
remove 'night-soil' from latrines a practice which
continues to this day.
But though Dalits continue to suffer persecution and
violence, their votes have become one of the most
fought-over battlegrounds in Indian politics because
they now account for such a large proportion of India's
700 million electorate – there are an estimated 170
million Dalits among India's 1.1 billion people.
Sonia Gandhi's Congress Party was the traditional home
of Dalit voters until the rise of the Bahujan Samaj
Party under the charismatic leadership of Mayawati, a
former teacher known to her supporters as 'Behenji' or
"respected sister".
The rivalry is sharpest in Uttar Pradesh, India's most
populous state, and Mayawati's main power base. She won
the 2007 state elections and is expected to increase her
number of seats from the state in this general election.
The outcome in Uttar Pradesh could determine both the
next Indian government and its prime minister. Mayawati
has been touted as a prime ministerial candidate for the
Third Front alliance led by the communists.
Commentators say it is because the stakes are so high
that campaigning in the state has been dogged by
violence and intimidation – several of the main parties
have fielded alleged gangsters as candidates.
According to MJ Akbar, one of India's most respected
political analysts, Mayawati was fighting "vigorously
and viciously for every seat," but added that despite
this latest murder violence in Indian politics had
declined.
The BSP's candidate in Jaunpur, Dhananjay Singh, is
facing a murder and several other charges under India's
'Gangsters Act.' Mayawati provoked uproar earlier this
week when she described another of her controversial
candidates, Mukhtar Ansari, as a 'Robin Hood' figure.
Ansari is in custody awaiting trial on 32 charges. "A
person who fights those who harass poor people cannot be
termed as criminal just by implicating him in false
cases," she said.
In Jaunpur, local commentator Shesh Narain Singh said
Mayawati was spreading "gangster politics and terror" to
gain power.
Bahdur Sonkar's colleagues and relatives said he had
been killed because he defied threats to stand aside for
his BSP rival.
His party leader Dr Udit Raj said he had been killed by
the "BSP mafia" because he was a 'Dalit' who had dared
to contest a general seat rather than one reserved for
poor minorities.
Senior BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya said Mayawati
would comment on the killing at a later date. "Killing a
person is wrong whether he is a Dalit or not. We won't
be able to comment as of now, [because] the police are
investigating the case," he said.
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