BJP's anti-Dalit, anti-tribal face exposed with urinating incident: Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that atrocities on tribals and Dalits are increasing under the BJP rule as he decried the incident in Madhya Pradesh where a tribal was urinating upon by a man, alleged to be a BJP leader.

He said the real face of BJP's hatred towards tribals and Dalits was exposed with the "inhuman act." A video of a man, purported to be a local BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh, showing him urinating on a tribal person in the state's Sidhi district recently went viral on social media leading to demands for his arrest from several quarters.

He was rounded up Wednesday after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan called for the immediate arrest of the man, who has since been identified as Pravesh Shukla.

"Atrocities on tribal brothers and sisters are increasing in the BJP rule. The entire humanity has been put to shame by the inhuman crime of a BJP leader in Madhya Pradesh," Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi on Wednesday. "

भाजपा राज में आदिवासी भाइयों और बहनों पर अत्याचार बढ़ते ही जा रहे हैं।

मध्यप्रदेश में एक भाजपा नेता के अमानवीय अपराध से सारी इंसानियत शर्मसार हुई है।

यह भाजपा का आदिवासियों और दलितों के प्रति नफ़रत का घिनौना चेहरा और असली चरित्र है!

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 5, 2023

"This is the disgusting face and real character of BJP's hatred towards tribals and Dalits," he said.

MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra said the man's act was "heinous, condemnable and a blot on humanity." Asked about Congress' demand for a "bulldozer action" against the accused, Mishra, who is also the state government's spokesperson, told PTI, "Bulldozer action is not taken at Congress' demand...bulldozer is used only when there is an encroachment." Earlier in the day, Mishra told reporters that the accused had been arrested as he spoke of a "bulldozer" action without taking any names.

The term became popular after the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government razed several properties owned by alleged criminals with bulldozers.

On Tuesday, an official from the MP Chief Minister's Office said a case was registered against Shukla under Indian Penal Code sections 294 (obscene acts), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace), and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The stringent National Security Act has also been invoked against him, he added.