The Nationwide Fee for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) Thursday wrote to Bihar’s Chief Secretary and Director Normal of Police (DGP) amid the controversy over RJD chief Lalu Prasad allegedly disrespecting Dr B R Ambedkar’s portrait.
The letter dated June 19, signed by NCSC Joint Secretary H Kam Suanthang, mentioned that it got here to the fee’s discover from experiences that Lalu Prasad had insulted Dr Ambedkar’s photograph on June 11, throughout his 78th birthday celebrations.
The Fee has directed the state’s high officers “to submit a report on motion taken inside 15 days”, warning that failure to reply might lead to “summons underneath constitutional powers granted by Article 338”.
The controversy erupted after a video from Lalu’s birthday celebration went viral, displaying a celebration supporter allegedly inserting Dr Ambedkar’s portrait close to Lalu’s ft.
On June 13, the Bihar State Fee for Scheduled Castes had already issued a discover referenced to the video, asking Lalu to “clarify his aspect inside 15 days”. The state fee mentioned that “failure to reply can be interpreted as intentional disrespect” and can result in “registration of a case underneath the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act”.
The ruling BJP and NDA allies criticised the incident, and accused Lalu of “insulting the architect of the Structure” and “hurting Dalit sentiments”.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary had known as it an “unpardonable insult”.
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Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, LJP (Ram Vilas) MP from Samastipur Sambhavi Choudhary, and different NDA leaders additionally mentioned that the act was “disrespecting”and “insulting” to Dalits.
BJP leaders have amplified the problem on social media and demanded a public apology from the RJD founder.
In the meantime, the RJD had dismissed the allegations as politically motivated, with celebration spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari claiming the video is being “misrepresented to polarise voters and malign Lalu’s picture earlier than the polls”.