Yogi Adityanath appoints ex-DGP Brij Lal in state SC/ST Commission

As a part of its aggressive Dalit agenda, the Yogi Adityanath government on Wednesday appointed former DGP Brij Lal as the Chairman of the UP SC/ST Commission.

The state government also rewarded the All-India Ambedkar Mahasabha president Lalji Prasad Nirmal for conferring 'Dalit Mitra' award on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath by making him the Chairman of the UP SC/ST Financial Development Corporation.

Brij Lal, the former DGP, was a close aide of then chief minister Mayawati. He had joined the BJP in 2016. He was famous for several encounters of dacoits and was known for his tough policing to control crime, particularly against Dalits in the state.

Both the Dalit sympathizers are to carry forward the Dalit agenda of the Yogi Adityanath government to make inroads in Mayawati's Dalit vote-bank in order to counter her alliance with the Samajwadi Party ahead of 209 Lok Sabha polls.

On Dr Bhimrao Amedkar's 127th Jayanti, the Yogi Adityanath government had unfolded aggressive Dalit agenda to saturate Dalit-dominated villages with Central and state government development and welfare schemes to woo dalits.

It now plans to introduce quota within quota in reservations to fix reservations for most backward Dalits and MBCs within SC/ST and OBC quota of reservations. The party feels that it will help the ruling BJP to woo non-Jatavs among Dalits and non-yadav among OBCs into the party fold.