Patna: Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan and deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi were shown black flags during a function to mark the birth anniversary of Baba Chauharmal, a Dalit icon at Mokama, 90km east of Patna.

Residents, mostly from the Dalit community, showed the flags in protest against the recent Supreme Court ruling on the SC/ST Act, somewhat diluting its provisions. The apex court has ruled that sanction of the appointing authority would be required before arrest or prosecution of the accused under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Dalits leaders in Bihar are already urging the Centre to file a review petition in the apex court and have accused the Centre of not putting the case strongly before the court. A few days back, Dalit MLAs from the RJD, BJP, JDU, Congress and RLSP had sat on a dharna on the Assembly premises demanding that the Centre file a review petition.

The black flags were flashed by members of the Bhim Army. It was an embarrassing situation for both Sushil Modi and Paswan. JDU minister Maheshwar Hazari, too, was present on the dais. Not only did the protesters flash black flags, they also threw them on the dais. They also flashed pamphlets screaming a call for Bharat Bandh on April 2 against the SC/ST Act. Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Saturday officially announced his party would support the bandh.

The protesters alleged that despite being a Union minister, Paswan was not doing anything.

But when asked about the black flags, Paswan said: "The black flags were shown against the court ruling, not against me. I must also say that till Ram Vilas Paswan is alive nobody dare take away reservation from Dalits."

Paswan said he recently met Prime Minister Narendra Modi with 100 MPs belong to SC/STs and during Modi assured them that reservations would only be done away with over his dead body.