Akhilesh Tripathi
NEW DELHI: The question of whether the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is involved in the violence during the Durga idol immersion in Mahrajganj, Mahsi tehsil, Bahraich district, Uttar Pradesh, is one that may have various opinions. However, it cannot be denied that there are indications of BJP’s involvement in the violence.
BJP MLA Sureshwar Singh has filed an FIR against BJP workers, accusing them of violence, rioting, stone-pelting, and attempted murder, thereby providing evidence of the BJP’s role in instigating violence and riots.
On October 13, during the Durga idol immersion in Maharajganj, violence erupted, leading to the murder of a young man named Ramgopal Mishra. Following this, there were incidents of vandalism and arson, and the situation escalated into a riot. The district administration and police of Bahraich failed to control the violence and the ensuing riots.
Afterward, Home Secretary Sanjeev Gupta and STF chief Amitabh Yash arrived in Bahraich to manage the situation, deploying a heavy contingent of security forces, which finally helped stabilize the situation. The police and district administration carried out one-sided actions, targeting the Muslim community in this case.
The police identified five main accused for the murder of Ramgopal Mishra and the violence, claiming to have apprehended them near the Nepal border. Among them, police reported capturing Sarfaraz alias Rinku and Talim alias Shabbu. According to the police, they had gone to recover weapons based on their identification, during which the suspects allegedly fired upon the police, leading to their injuring during a subsequent encounter.
So far, the police have arrested 88 individuals in connection with the violence, predominantly from the Muslim community, with no arrests reported from other communities. This one-sided action by the police appears to suggest that only the Muslim community is responsible for the violence, which is not the reality.
BJP MLA Sureshwar Singh, by filing an FIR against BJP workers, has underscored that the BJP had a role in the violence and rioting in Bahraich. On October 21, he submitted a complaint to the Bahraich police, listing several BJP functionaries, including Aarpit Srivastava (BJP youth wing president), Anuj Singh Raikwar, Shubham Mishra, and others.
In his complaint, Singh described how during the violent protests over the body of deceased Ram Gopal Mishra, he and his associates were attacked with stones and even faced gunfire. The FIR lodged against his own party members has put the BJP on the defensive.
This incident exposes the BJP’s willingness to engage in or instigate violence for its benefit. The filing of the FIR by Sureshwar Singh against BJP members reveals the party’s troubling reality and its problematic involvement in the recent riots, leading to significant embarrassment for the BJP.
