Gandhinagar, June 25 The Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) leader and MLA from Jhagadia Chhotubhai Vasava in a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind has expressed fear of being eliminated in an encounter and has sought adequate protection at the earliest.
The BTP chief and his son, the BTP MLA from Dediyapada constituency Mahesh Vasava, didn't vote in the last Friday's elections for four Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat.
As the battle for the fourth Rajya Sabha seat was tough, both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress wanted the BTP votes for their candidate, but the father and son duo abstained from polling.
On reasons for not voting in the Rajya Sabha polls, Vasava said it was due to non-implementation of the Schedule V and the constitutional rights of the tribals. Neither the BJP nor the Congress favoured the tribals' rights, he added.
In his letter to the President on Wednesday, Vasava said he and his son had been raising their voices for social justice. In Gujarat, the caste divide had reached a revolting situation.
"Due to the opposing forces, there is a threat to our lives," he said. In the past too, the the Gujarat government and the police had colluded with anti-social elements to hatch political conspiracies and carry out fake encounters, he added.
Earlier too, Vasava had expressed fear of getting killed in a fake encounter. Just before the 2017 Assembly elections, he had said there was a political conspiracy to wipe him out in a fake encounter.
( With inputs from IANS )