Bhopal: The issues like the SC/ST Act and reservation may have been cited as reason behind the attack on the Chief Minister’s rally at Churhat in Sidhi on Sunday, but its seed lies in a wrangle between the Congress and the BJP over bad roads.
The district administration cannot shrug off it responsibility, because despite knowing that such incident might occur, it did not take any action. The residents of the district have been demanding construction of roads from the district administration for long time.
Besides, Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh demanded construction of roads which are tatters, but the district administration did not pay any heed to it. However, a week before the Chief Minister’s jan ashirwad yatra which was scheduled to reach Sidhi district on Sunday, the administration began to fill in the potholed roads.
Since the administration that has been ignoring the Congress’s demand suddenly woke up to the cause, the party opposed the road-repairing work. But, when the BJP came to know of it, they supported the administration, leading to disappointment among the Congress workers and locals.
The simmering anger then turned into attack on the CM’s rally. After the attack, the police arrested 33 people for creating ruckus and pelting the rally with stones, and all of them have been sent to jail after court orders. There were three incidents during CM’s visit – throwing stones at the rally, hurling slippers and showing black flags. Twenty-two people were arrested for showing black flags.
All the accused belong to upper caste and OBC category and are residents of different villages in the district. The Sidhi police registered cases under sections 151,107,116(3) of the CrPC against all the 22 people, who were presented in the Sidhi court.
The upper caste or non-SC/ST people are annoyed with both the BJP and the Congress because of reservation and the SC/ST Atrocities Act. Reports coming from different parts of the state indicate that the people are angry both the Congress and the BJP.
Kamal Nath condemns incident
Congress state president Kamal Nath condemned the incident saying that a high-level inquiry into the incident should be ordered and those who were involved in it should be punished. “I am not a supporter of such type of politics. The Congress party is not having this type of ideology. But it is not right to blame the Congress without any proper evidence,” he added.
BJP to demonstrate, give memo
The BJP workers will demonstrate at all the district headquarters across the state against the attack on the Chief Minister’s rally and hand over memorandum to the Governor seeking stern action against the Congress workers who were allegedly involved in the incident.
