Even as Union minister Nitin Gadkari flagged off the fifth and final Jan Ashirwad Yatra of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Khandwa of Madhya Pradesh, a shadow of controversy has already covered the pre-poll activity.
Stone pelting was reported on the second of the five yatras in Neemuch district on Tuesday late night. This yatra was flagged off by Union minister Rajnath Singh on Monday from Neemuch district headquarters.
The BJP has blamed opposition Congress for the stone pelting with home minister Narottam Mishra saying that the seven persons, including one Khema Gurjar against whom FIR was registered, and who were arrested belonged to Congress.
Madhya Pradesh Congress chief and ex-chief minister Kamal Nath, however, said that people in Mandsaur-Neemuch area were venting anger (against Shivraj Singh Chouhan government) on BJP’s yatra due to an impractical Cheetah project implementation.
The stone pelting, which damaged the vehicles in the yatra, was reported from Rauli Kudi village in the Rampura area, about 75km from Neemuch district headquarters. About 150 people gathered on the way of the yatra and stopped it. The village falls under Gandhisagar Sanctuary where the forest department is carrying out fencing for the cheetah translocation project. After Kuno in Sheopur, Gandhisagar Sanctuary is one of the selected spots for the inter-continental translocation project.
The villagers are protesting the fencing as it would mean unavailability of grazing place for their cattle and an impact on their livelihood, sources said. They have been giving memorandums to people’s representatives on the issue, but to no avail, sources added.
The BJP leaders accompanying the yatra tried to convince the villagers, but their anger erupted leading to stone pelting on the vehicles. On Wednesday, a case was registered against 19 persons and seven were arrested.
“If you look behind the attack, you will understand. Kamal Nath ji had earlier said that stone pelting like Manipur was possible. He has been trying to instigate for the past one month. Digvijaya (Singh) ji was giving example of Nuh in Haryana. He was also trying to instigate. Congress is dejected and disappointed and thus resorting to such tactics. People of the state should understand this,” home minister Mishra said.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the Congress was freaking out because of people's support for the Jan Ashirwad Yatra. "Kamal Nath ji had been talking about stone pelting; this creates a lot of suspicion. I have ordered a probe and whosoever is behind the incident, action will be taken. But I want to tell the Congress that they won’t succeed with such tactics. Whatever they may try, BJP will win the coming election with full majority. Madhya Pradesh politics has always been decent and it should remain so. They should not resort to such tactics," he said.
Kamal Nath said on Tuesday night that even after harassing every section of society, the Shivraj government expects flowers and not stones. “Whatever they have given to the public during their 18 years rule, the public is ready to return the same with interest,” he said. However, he urged the people to protest only in a democratic manner and let the courts do the work of punishing the criminals.
On Wednesday, Nath said that the stone pelting incident was an example of distrust of people in the BJP government. Taking up the issue of cheetah Project, he said: “The BJP government is imposing an impractical scheme of Cheetah Project on the people of the area. The land of the farmers and villagers, especially the grazing land for cattle, is badly affected. There is a lot of anger in the region, but the chief minister and BJP leaders, intoxicated by power, are ignoring public sentiments. I am with the people of the Neemuch-Mandsaur area. I will not allow this injustice to happen.”
He further demanded that the CM must take immediate cognisance of the situation. “Give relief to cattle herders and farmers who are being deprived of land due to the Cheetah Project. Along with this, I promise the people of the area that when the Congress government comes, we will take decisions in the interest of the farmers of the area.”
Gadkari lauds development in MP
Meanwhile, while flagging off the fifth Jan Ashirwad Yatra from Khandwa, Gadkari lauded the development in Madhya Pradesh in past two decades and said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, CM Chouhan has been able to change the lives of the poor. “The biggest feature of the work of the BJP is the welfare of the village, the poor, the laborers and the farmers. Once Madhya Pradesh was known as a ‘Bimaru’ (sick) state, but under the leadership of Shivraj ji, Madhya Pradesh is now talked of as a developing state. This is just the trailer of development, the entire movie is yet to come,” he said.
The Union minister also said that under leadership of PM Modi, the farmers of the country have turned not only into food, but also energy providers and bio-ethanol produced by them is now being used as vehicle and aviation fuel.
Chouhan assured the people that in case of any exigency including crop damage; his government will stand by the people and get them out of the crisis. “I am not Kamal Nath to keep crying about not having funds,” he said.
The fifth Jan Ashirwad Yatra will cover Khandwa, Burhanpur, Khargone, Dhar, Barwani, Alirajpur, Jhabua, Dhar, Indore and Dewas districts in Malwa-Nimad region. There will be 31 big public meetings enroute and cover 42 assembly constituencies in about a 2000km route.
