At least seven people were killed and many injured in violence on Monday as Dalit protesters went on a rampage during a nationwide bandh against the dilution of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. While five people were killed in cross-firing in Madhya Pradesh alone, one each died in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, according to officials there.

Curfew was imposed in several places and hundreds were detained. Fifteen companies or 1,700 personnel of Rapid Action Force were rushed to UP, MP and Rajasthan. Two companies of the BSF were sent to Punjab.

Transport, mobile and internet services were hit in many states with over 100 trains getting affected due to protests. Some states had ordered closure of educational institutions as a precaution. Incidents of arson, firing and vandalism were reported from many states.

Appealing for peace, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the government was committed to ensuring the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and guaranteeing them full protection of law. “I am deeply pained by the acts of violence and loss of precious lives in some parts of the country,” he said. In Madhya Pradesh, two died in Gwalior, two in Bhind and one in Morena.

Sources said that one person was killed in Muzaffarnagar in UP, when pro-bandh supporters opened fire while forcing closure of shops. Another person received bullet injuries and was admitted to the hospital, where his condition was stated to be critical.

Police detained nearly 400 people, including former BSP MLA from Meerut Yogesh Verma . UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath appealed for peace and urged the people not to vitiate law and order. The CBSE has already postponed Class 12 and Class 10 examinations scheduled to be held on Monday in Punjab at the request of the state government.

The Supreme Court had on March 20 diluted certain provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, in a bid to protect ‘honest’ public servants discharging bona fide duties from being blackmailed with false cases under the Act.

Western UP districts having sizable Dalit population witnessed large scale violence. Dozens of vehicles were torched in Muzaffarnagar, Meerut. They also attacked scribes and molested women, sources said. BSP supremo Mayawati attributed the violence to ”outside criminal elements” and asked the government to identify such people and punish them.

In Rajasthan, Pawan Kumar, a youth, died in police firing after protesters attacked a police station in Alwar and tried to set it ablaze. “A youth sucummbed to injuries. He along with other protestors had beaten up the police and were trying to burn the police station,” NR K Reddy (ADG Law & Order) confirmed.

Meanwhile Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje appealed for peace in the state.
In Punjab, the Indo-Pak bus service too was hit. The Lahore-bound bus from Delhi was made to go off the road at Sirhind, while the Delhi-bound bus from Lahore was stopped at Amritsar.

In Gujarat, though there have been no reports of any loss of life or major incidents of violence, crowds stopped vehicles on highways and in the cities and got into scuffles with the police.

The National Investigation Agency has probed 23 cases related to dreaded terror group ISIS in which 81 people have been arrested and 39 are absconding, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said some of the arrested and absconding accused have either provided or received funds for helping co-accused to go to the areas under the influence of Islamic State (IS).

“The NIA has investigated 23 cases related to ISIS in which 81 people have been arrested and 39 are absconding,” he said in reply to a written question.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah suffered a minor head injury after he slipped and fell off his chair while he was seated for lunch at a party leader’s house here in Mavinahalli on April 2.

Siddaramaiah who was in Mysuru for campaigning in his Chamundeshwari constituency had left for lunch at a Congress party leader’s house in Mavinahalli. While he was seated along with former MLA Sathyanarayana and lawyer friend Mavinahalli Siddegowda for lunch, he slipped and fell off from the plastic chair. Fortunately he suffered only minor injuries.

Immediately his security personnel rushed to his help. Even the party workers present also panicked for a while and were in tears on witnessing him fall. Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra who is a doctor, on learning about the incident, also rushed to help his father out. He later spoke to media persons and said that there was nothing to worry as the CM had sustained only a minor injury on his head.

CM recovered quickly and continued his campaign post lunch. After campaigning for almost 5 days in Chamundeshwari, CM left for Bengaluru to take part in the tour along with Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

However, on Tuesday April 3, Siddaramaiah was taken to Vikram Hospital in Bengaluru for a scan. He was soon discharged and later joined Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Shivamogga. Sources said the chief minister is fine and had to only go through routine check-up.

Following widespread criticism from various quarters against the central government over guidelines to curb fake news, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday April 3 directed that the newly amended guidelines on fake news be withdrawn and that the matter should only be addressed in Press Council of India.

It may be recalled that on Monday April 2 information and broadcasting ministry in its statement said that accreditation of journalists who publish or propagate fake news could be permanently suspended or cancelled as per the amended guidelines of the central government.

However, though it may sound a positive step on the outset, it has created panic among journalists, who, along with the opposition parties, described the guidelines as an attack on the freedom of press.

An emergency meeting was also called at the Press Club of India.

Minister of information and broadcasting Smriti Irani said that the guidelines have generated a lot of debate and that the government was open for suggestions from journalists. “PIB Accreditation Guidelines asking Press Council of India & News Broadcasters Association to define & act against ‘fake news’ have generated debate. Several journalists & organisations have reached out giving positive suggestions regarding the same. @MIB_India is more than happy to engage with journalist body or organisation/s wanting to give suggestions so that together we can fight the menace of ‘fake news’ & uphold ethical journalism. Interested journalists and/or organisations may feel free to meet me at @MIB_India,” she tweeted.

Notwithstanding the speculation on the durability of the new-found alliance with one-time rival BSP, Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav says the 23-year-old acrimony with Mayawati and her party “is a thing of past”.

“All that is irrelevant now is that both parties are walking ahead, hand in hand, to achieve a larger national objective of defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is detrimental to both the state and the nation,” Yadav said in an interview to IANS.

In a detailed interview after the stunning defeat the Samajwadi Party dealt to the BJP by trouncing it in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha byelections, seats held earlier by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya, Yadav said that the BSP-SP combine was like a “glue which will knock the daylights off the arrogant and useless BJP government”.

The BJP, the 44-year-old leader added, would often ridicule how the opposition had no narrative to take on the saffron camp. He pointed out that with the coming together of the BSP and SP, the narrative had finally arrived.

What about the bitterness that enveloped the relations between Mayawati and his own father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, particularly after the attack on her?

“The past is past. I look ahead. Mayawatiji has set the record straight that when this incident happened I was nowhere in politics and hence I cannot be drawn into the slugfest.”

Dropping enough hints that the BSP-SP bonhomie would continue till the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek another term for his government, the former Chief Minister said his party already had the development plank and now what it was doing was to emulate the BJP in micro-booth and caste management.

Asked about the mercurial nature of the Dalit diva Mayawati, he said that time changes people.

“Seat sharing are small things and they will be sorted out at the time it is needed. We will cross the bridge when we come to it.”

Akhilesh Yadav said he was now doing what the BJP had taught them.

“They talk of panna pramukhs, understanding and adjusting the caste matrix and focussing on booth management. Now when we do it, we are accused of being casteist… How can it be win-win for the BJP?”

After the Lok Sabha byelection victories, Akhilesh Yadav drove to Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati’s residence for a 30-minute meeting.

He said Mayawati was warm and bore no signs of rivalry or bitterness. “She was welcoming. She took me on a pictorial tour of her journey from a commoner to being Chief Minister four times of the country’s most populous state.”

Akhilesh Yadav accused the Yogi Adityanath government of doing nothing in Uttar Pradesh in the past one year as compared to the “exemplary development” under his watch.

“The only thing the BJP government has done in the past one year is to cut ribbons of projects that were initiated by the SP government.”

Getting philosophical, he recounted how having studied in a military school at Dhaulpur in Rajasthan and later in Bengaluru, he had forgotten he was a backward-caste person.

“I almost forgot it until the BJP reminded me of my backward caste DNA. I am thankful to them for doing so. I would like to say that I may be born in a backward family, but I am a forward looking person who is progressive, has a vision and is growth-oriented.”

He listed many failures of the state government while calling the BJP confused and jittery.

He pointed out how they were trying desperately to find an answer to the coming together of the BSP and SP.

Asked if he planned for more parties to join them in a grand alliance, he said: “As of now it is just UP and the BSP-SP together.” His relationships with the Congress, he said, were normal and cordial.

The government has no intention of changing the existing reservation policy for Dalits and tribes, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced on Tuesday.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Rajnath Singh dubbed as rumours speculation that the government wanted to end the reservation system. “Rumours are being spread about reservation policy, it is wrong.

“I appeal to all political parties to help in maintaining peace and amity in the country,” he added amid noisy protests.

The comments came a day after widespread protests by Dalits rocked the country against the dilution of a law aimed at preventing atrocities on Dalits and tribals.