Bahraich: Days after communal violence flared up in Maharajganj in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich, the local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finds itself embroiled in a blame game with the party’s Mahasi MLA Sureshwar Singh filing a police case accusing the district president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) of rioting and attempt to murder.
Though Singh clarified the accusations are unrelated to communal violence that followed the killing of 22-year-old Ram Gopal Mishra, the FIR against BJP youth wing functionary Arpit Srivastava dated has laid bare tensions simmering in the party’s local unit in Bahraich.
After Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav attacked the Yogi Adityanath government citing Singh’s complaint against the BJYM functionary, the BJP MLA claimed he was unaware of Srivastava’s link to the party.
“There are CCTV cameras installed in several shops in the area where the incident took place. The case has nothing to do with Maharajganj violence. In my view, there is no one except Arpit Srivastava—who I came to know about later that he is district president of BJP’s Yuva Morcha—related to the BJP in this case,” Singh told reporters Tuesday.
“I got this case registered on 18 October after asking people to come forward as I was told that there were our own people who were there during the night of violence on 13 October,” Singh added.
Srivastava, on the other hand, told ThePrint that he sees the complaint against him as part of a conspiracy by the BJP MLA to “wrest control” of the urban area that does not fall under his assembly constituency. He went on to allege that the complaint was filed to dent his political capital and allow Singh to “establish his son from the urban constituency”.
On 13 October, communal tension gripped Maharajganj allegedly after local residents objected to offensive songs being played as a Durga idol procession passed through a Muslim neighbourhood. The situation escalated in no time, with those part of the procession alleging stones were pelted at them. Mishra then jumped on the roof of a house from where stones were allegedly pelted. It was here that he was eventually killed.
Mishra’s death triggered a spate of incidents of violence that night and the next day, forcing the UP government to send in top police officers including Additional Director General (ADG) Amitabh Yash to control the situation.
The UP police have so far have filed 15 FIRs, including the one filed on the BJP MLA’s complaint, in connection with instances of violence reported on 13 and 14 October.
A total of 73 individuals have been sent to jail in these cases, Bahraich Superintendent of Police Vrinda Shukla told ThePrint.
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The FIR filed on Singh’s complaint at the Kotwali City police station, a copy of which is with ThePrint, names eight individuals and several unidentified members of a riotous mob.
Those identified by name are Arpit Srivastava, Anuj Singh Raikwar, Shubham Mishra, Kushmendra Chaudhary, Manish Chandra Shukla, Pundrik Pandey and Sudhanshu Singh Rana.
The accused have been charged under sections 191(2) and 191(3) (rioting), 3(5) (criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention of all), 109(1) (attempt to murder), 324(2) (mischief), 351(3) (criminal intimidation), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 125 (endangering life or personal safety) of the BNS.
In the FIR dated 18 October, Singh alleged the incident in question took place between 8 and 10 pm on 13 October when he was trying to take Ram Gopal Mishra’s dead body to the mortuary along with District Magistrate Monika Rani and other officials, including the CMO (chief medical officer) and city magistrate, after having convinced Mishra’s family members and villagers.
This is when, according to the BJP legislator, Srivastava and the other accused raised slogans and hurled expletives at them.
He further alleged that the BJYM functionary and the other accused also created a ruckus and pelted stones at their vehicles when Singh, along with the officials, was returning to the spot where violence first broke out to recover the Durga idol in order to then immerse it. The mob, said Singh, even fired at the convoy, shattering the glass of one of the vehicles. Singh’s complaint also said the bullet nearly hit his son Akhand Pratap.
Responding to the allegations made by Singh, Srivastava told ThePrint over the phone that the complaint was made with a “purely political purpose”—to seize the party’s reach in urban areas of the district. “The MLA is desperate to wrest control of the urban area where my team works day in and out to help people. Singh is looking to establish his son from the urban constituency, while he is MLA from a rural constituency,” he said.
Adding, “This FIR is nothing but an attempt to bring about my political submission, so that he could be undisputed leader of the party in the district.”
Asked about the tussle, Brijesh Pandey, Bahraich district president of the BJP, said the matter has been brought to the attention of the leadership at the state level which will take a call on the issue. “Yes, Arpit Srivastava is district president of party’s Yuva Morcha in Bahraich. We’ve informed the leadership about this development,” Pandey told ThePrint.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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History will remember this BJP under Modi as the creator riots in India.