Communally sensitive Saharanpur was on the boil again with fresh violence in the district claiming one more life.
Some persons set fire to the houses of upper caste Thakurs in Shabbirpur village ahead of the arrival of Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati there, police sources said.
District officials rushed to the scene and pacified members of the Thakur community.
Later, some unidentified, sword wielding persons attacked a Bolero car of BSP supporters, who had come from Sarsawa.
The sources said the attackers fired their guns and wielded batons, killing Ashish, 24, on the spot and injuring four others.
The injured have been admitted to the district hospital.
Saharanpur has been in the grip of caste violence since April.
On May 5, a Dalit group had objected to a procession of Thakurs in Shabbirpur to mark the birth anniversary of Rajput king Maharana Pratap, triggering violence, in which one person was killed and over 15 were injured.
Dalit victims of the clashes say upper caste Thakurs had earlier prevented them from installing a statue of Dr B R Ambedkar on the premises of the Ravidas temple in the village.
BJP responsible for violence: Mayawati
Mayawati, meanwhile, held the Bharatiya Janata Party-led UP government responsible for the violence and alleged that the ruling party had failed to stop its own brigade from attacking weaker sections.
"The district administration of Saharanpur did not allow Dalits to install a bust of Ambedkar, while the procession to mark the birth anniversary of Maharana Pratap was taken out without any permission," Mayawati said during an interaction with media in Muzaffarnagar.
"The Dalits just reacted to this discrimination," she said.
The former chief minister also suggested that Keshav Prasad Maurya, who was seen as a frontrunner for the post of chief minister during the UP elections, was later overlooked because of his caste credentials.
Maywati said the BJP frequently referred to Dr B R Ambedkar merely for votes and had no genuine concern for either the Dalit icon or his followers.
"BJP leaders frequently refer to B R Ambedkar but the followers of Ambedkar are facing injustice. They refer to Ambedkar merely for votes. People will not accept such anti-Dalit party," she said.
The BSP chief pilloried the state government over the 'deteriorating' law-and-order situation in the state, saying 'the state government has failed to fulfill its constitutional duty of providing peace and security to the people of the state'.
Representative image.
