Himachal BJP president booked for casteist remarks

SHIMLA - Two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including president of the party’s Himachal Pradesh unit, were booked Saturday for making casteist remarks, police said.

BJP state president Khimi Ram and Dharamvir Dhami were booked on the complaint of Ram Singh (another BJP leader) under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Kullu police superintendent Abhishek Dular told IANS over phone.

He said Ram Singh complained that they used caste-laced remarks at a meeting held Friday night to finalise party tickets for the forthcoming panchayat elections.

Singh is president of the BJP’s Kullu district unit, while two-time legislator Khimi Ram was unanimously elected the state president in February this year.

He was nominated the state party chief in July last year after Jairam Thakur, his predecessor, was inducted into the state cabinet.