Congressmen in Uttar Pradesh to celebrate Oct 2 with Dalits

July 17th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and her government have come in for criticism from the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, which said it has the "most dismal record in tackling atrocities against Dalits". Commission chairman Buta Singh said the Mayawati government's move to arrest Congress leader Rita Joshi Bahuguna for her remarks against Mayawati was "a little far-fetched".

July 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress Friday said Uttar Pradesh party chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi's remark against Chief Minister Mayawati would not hamper the party's efforts to woo Dalits in the state. "As far as the effect of this issue is concerned, it will be short lived and not be an impediment to our efforts to get Dalit voters to our fold, a senior Congress leader who is a union minister said when asked if he saw the episode hampering the Congress's efforts to make inroads among Dalits.

July 10th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Friday made clear that Dalits would remain on top of her list of priorities. Alarmed by the spate of atrocities against Dalits in different parts of the state, the chief minister got a special government order issued to ensure that such cases are handled by senior policemen, who would be held responsible for any tardiness.

June 19th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati clarified that protest demonstrations her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had organised across Uttar Pradesh Friday were not connected with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's birthday. We selected June 19 to launch an awareness campaign about the casteist approach of opposition parties and to attack the central government for its anti-Dalit policies but that had nothing to do with Rahul Gandhis birthday, which I am told also falls today," she told a rally here.

June 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW - Celebrating its gains in the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress in Uttar Pradesh will mark party general secretary Rahul Gandhi's birthday June 19 with community feasts, mainly in Dalit-dominated areas. June 19 will be celebrated as Samrasta Diwas (Harmony Day) in Uttar Pradesh.

June 13th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Saturday asked workers of her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to stage demonstrations across the country on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's birthday June 19 against his party's "anti-Dalit policies". She made the announcement at a specially convened day-long meeting of her ministers, party MPs, legislators, district coordinators and other senior leaders here.

June 7th, 2009 LUCKNOW - The World Bank has given its nod to a whopping Rs.1,332 crore (Rs.13.32 billion) soft loan for reclamation of sodic land in Uttar Pradesh - a move that will help an estimated 250,000 farmers. Making the announcement at a press conference here Sunday, Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh said, "The scheme would help reclaim a huge chunk of about 130,000 hectares of sodic land in the state." The scheme, an extension of two previous phases of a similar exercise undertaken in the state, will benefit an estimated 250,000 farmers, he said.

May 16th, 2009 LUCKNOW - The scene at the party headquarters here said it all. While it was celebrations and euphoria at the Congress office, the Samajwadi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) offices in the Uttar Pradesh capital wore a deserted look Saturday evening.

March 21st, 2009 LUCKNOW - Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Friday announced candidates for all 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The list has more Brahmins and fewer Dalits.

February 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Gearing up for the Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday said that it has finalised its pre-poll alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), a party with some influence in western Uttar Pradesh. 'The alliance with the RLD has been finalised.

January 27th, 2009 RAE BARELI - Congress president Sonia Gandhi visited several Dalit families and ate with one of them in her parliamentary constituency Amethi here Wednesday, the second and last day of her Uttar Pradesh visit. To have the first hand experience of problems and challenges faced by the Dalits, Gandhi visited their huts in various villages in Rae Bareli, a Congress leader said.

January 22nd, 2009 LUCKNOW - Tension prevails in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh district after unidentified people desecrated a statue of Bhimrao Ambedkar, with activists of the state's ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and several others taking to the streets to demand action against the culprits, police said Friday. 'A case has been registered against unidentified people who desecrated the Ambedkar Statue in Kopa village in Pratapgarh, apparently on Thursday night,' police inspector R.M.

January 18th, 2009 MUMBAI - People from Uttar Pradesh (UP) have been threatened once again by Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) - this time over the proposed celebration here of 'Uttar Pradesh Divas', the state's foundation day. MNS has put up posters in some parts of south Mumbai, indicating the consequences if people from Uttar Pradesh decide to celebrate UTTar Pradesh (UP) Divas here Saturday (Jan 24).

January 12th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Twenty members of an inter-state gang, involved in manufacturing and supplying spurious country-made liquor, have been arrested in Uttar Pradesh, police said Tuesday. The men were arrested from the Narayanpur village of Ballia district, about 300 km from here, Monday late night.

January 12th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan Tuesday charged Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of not being serious about fighting for the rights of Dalits and the downtrodden. 'Atrocities against Dalits in Uttar Pradesh are on the rise.