BSP workers at a protest rally in Jalandhar on Friday. (PTI)

New Delhi, Sept. 2: Politicians of all hues today made for Gohana, two days after about 50 Dalit homes were torched in the Haryana town not far from Delhi.

Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayavati, a self-styled Dalit messiah, finally woke up to the political significance of the attack that has prompted a statewide agitation by the community, including a Haryana bandh today.

Having remained silent throughout the caste clashes ? set off by a Jat’s murder last Saturday and climaxing in Wednesday’s panchayat-directed arson ? Mayavati decided to rush to the scene today. She seemed to sense the gravity of the situation late last night. “We realise how sensitive the situation is. Our leader will go there tomorrow,” a BSP spokesperson said last night.

Ram Vilas Paswan, Justice Party president Udit Raj and a five-member BJP team, too, reached the town in Sonepat district, bordering Delhi.

In the capital, CPM Rajya Sabha member Brinda Karat met Union home minister Shivraj Patil to demand action against the police and administration for their “criminal connivance” in the attack on Balmiki Basti.

“We have asked for immediate action against the police superintendent and district commissioner who remained mute spectators?. We have also demanded a CBI inquiry,” Karat said.

“All those affected by the tragedy will be provided compensation,” Patil declared. “I will speak to the state government and the matter will be thoroughly investigated.”

The BJP demanded a judicial probe. The controversy has singed its lone MP from Haryana, Kishan Singh Sangwan, whose brother and son are accused of plotting the arson.

Today’s bandh witnessed stray violence, with a police motorcycle set on fire and a few buses and a car damaged.