Raipur: Once a valley of peace Chhattisgarh, defamed by Naxal menace, is going to face another major jolt in its reputation from state’s opposition party which ruled the state for three consecutive terms on the issue of development as it is allegedly shifting its agenda towards religious conversion in the state.
The shift in agenda allegedly resulted in three communal riots in the peaceful state. After Kawardha violence, the tribal community which split up among non-converts and converts sulking in anger witnessed a major violent communal clash in Narayanpur leading to serious head injury of the Superintendent of Police.
Violent clashes in Bemetara district
Several other parts of Bastar and Sarguja animosity reported increased between converts and non-convert communities. Similar violent clash was reported from Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ravindra Choubey’s Saja constituency of Bemetara district a few days back. Here, 22 years old Bhuvneshwar Sahu was brutally murdered by a group of hardliner religious Muslims.
Lok Sabha MP Vijay Baghel levelled serious allegations against the ruling government and said, the person who incited the religious fanatic mob for the brutal murder was parliamentary minister Ravindra Choubey close aide and the police haven’t arrested till the date.
Meanwhile, the BJP State President added fuel to the fire by announcing that once the BJP government will form, the bulldozers will raze the empire of jihadi-mafia-criminal nexus.
Main agenda is religious conversions: BJP
BJP spokesperson Amit Chimnani said, whether religious conversion will be included in our election manifesto or not is a matter of future, but forced religious conversions are part of main agenda.
He cited the Sukma SP letter in which it was mentioned that peace of the area may be jeopardized due to the simmering tension between converted and unconverted tribals.
The increased cases of forced religious conversions are in our primary list of concerns because it is not only changing the demography of the area but also creating a major threat to the existing peace in the concerned region from Bastar to Sarguja, Chimnani said.
Meanwhile, the Chhattisgarh Congress Communication Department Chief Sushil Anand Shukla forcefully countered the allegations and said, BJP leaders only make foul cry, till the date they have not submitted any evidence of forced conversion nor they have even filed complaint with proper evidence in police station of the state.
As far as SP’s letter was concerned it was an internal precautionary letter written to its subordinates to neutralise threats of possible law and order situation in the area.
However, on the issue of shifting of agenda from development to religious conversion, Political Analyst Shyam Vetal said, BJP wants to sit in power by hook or crook, but if number of religious conflicts escalates in Chhattisgarh, it may benefit BJP, but not good for state’s reputation or its existing communal harmony. The communal chaos will be proved as counter productive in the long term, he added.
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