Seer's death turns into political blame game in Rajasthan; high-level inquiry ordered

The death of saint Vijay Das who allegedly self-immolated over illegal mining has turned out to be a political issue in Rajasthan. The Central leadership of the BJP has sent a four-member committee of its MPs to get a report on this death and the issue of illegal mining at places of religious importance in Bharatpur. State chief minister Ashok Gehlot has also called for a high-level inquiry into the death of the seer.

The four-member committee of the BJP led by the MP and in-charge of Rajasthan BJP Arun Singh reached the Pasopa village on Sunday where the saints were running a movement against illegal mining and the incident of self-immolation of Baba Vijay Das happened.

The committee met with officials and the saints to collect information about the incident and the issue. It will submit its report to BJP president JP Nadda.

The state leaders of the BJP have already started accusing the Gehlot government of the seer's death. Former CM of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje launched a scathing attack on the Congress government, saying that their negligence led to the death of Baba Vijay Das in Bharatpur.

“The seer had to protest against the illegal mining. The death could have been averted if the system acted on the demands of saints. The situation became so worse that Vijay Das lost his patience and immolated himself,” said Vasundhara Raje.

Looking at the situation, Gehlot has decided to hold the inquiry into the death of the saint.

Gehlot, in a tweet, mentioned, "The demise of Saint Shri Vijay Baba is extremely saddening. We made every effort to save him and provided him with better medical facilities."

"I am sad that when the government principally agreed to his demands, then under what circumstances did he have to take this unfortunate step. We have decided to get this incident investigated by an officer at the level of Principal Secretary. Along with that, Shri Vijay Baba's family members will be given support amount of 5 lakh rupees from the Chief Minister's relief fund," Ashok Gehlot stated.

The seer, Vijay Baba, had set himself on fire to protest against illegal mining in the Deeg area in Rajasthan's Bharatpur district. Illegal mining had allegedly been going on for a long time in the mountains of religious importance in Bharatpur.