Did Akhilesh Yadav put his foot in his mouth after remarks on katha vachaks incident?

On Tuesday, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav accused the state government of having a mindset against the backward castes while mentioning the incident in Etawah where two katha vachaks were roughed up. Yadav’s claim was that the two had been targeted by upper caste members because they were Yadavs.

 

It now appears that the two had claimed to be Brahmins when they were invited to recite the Bhagavad Gita. They had also allegedly misbehaved with women.

 

A video of the hair of one of the duo being chopped off and another rubbing his nose on the ground in front of a woman had gone viral. The duo’s harmonium was also broken.

 

Katha vachaks recite the epics and religious texts, often to the accompaniment of music.

 

The incident took place in Dadarpur village under Bakewar police station.

A Brahmin body of the village has now said that it will not permit anyone to misbehave with women and demanded that strict action be taken against the two.

 

On Tuesday, Yadav tried to paint the whole incident as a Brahmin versus Yadav issue. He also said such harassment of people from the backward castes was possible only because the government supported it. If high caste members were so against people from backward castes, they should not even accept gifts and donations from them, the SP chief had said.

 

Many from the BJP have now called out Yadav for making baseless allegations against Brahmins. He is also being accused of not trusting the woman who had outed the duo for misbehaving with her.

 

On Tuesday, however, Yadav was hailed as a true champion of the weak as he announced financial compensation and a new harmonium for the duo.

 

The police, meanwhile, are investigating the case and have also arrested those who prima facie appear to have assaulted the duo.

India