While BJP demanded action against the women collector and deputy collector, Congress leaders, including Digvijaya Singh, condemned the misbehaviour by the BJP workers with the officials.

BJP has demanded registration of FIR against the district collector and deputy collector for slapping, beating and kicking saffron workers. BJP said party top leaders including former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state president Rakesh Singh will reach Rajgarh on January 22 to lodge a complaint.

A BJP delegation led by former minister and MLA Vishwas Sarang reached Rajgarh to take stock of the situation. BJP alleged that the entire incident was pre-planned and scripted. The BJP workers were not demonstrating but sitting peacefully in local temple when they were dragged out and beaten up by the officials. The party has also lodged a complaint with the state Human Rights Commission seeking justice.

State Congress reacted strongly to the alleged misbehaviour of BJP workers with women collector and deputy collector.

Digvijaya Singh said: “Rowdy behaviour of BJP has been revealed in Rajgarh in Madhya Pradesh. Woman district collector and woman deputy collector were beaten up and pulled by the hair. We are proud of the woman officers”.

Minister for Law, PC Sharma, claimed that misbehaviour with woman was part of the BJP-RSS culture. “Section 144 was imposed in Rajgarh. If BJP had to do a protest then permission should have been taken. The woman collector and deputy collector were working in the same capacity during BJP tenure also. No such incident took place then,” Sharma argued.

Meanwhile, police has identified 124 of the 500 demonstrators and arrested 12 people for violating section 144.

“Of the 12 people including five women have been arrested. Search for other people among the 124 identified is going on and we are also trying to identify other protestors through the video frottage,” Rajgarh SP Pradeep Sharma told media persons.

He added: “Approximately 500 people had participated in the protest, as per the statements of the officials. Numbers would be clear once we verify the video footage."

“Apart from it, we have also arrested one person on the complaint by a female officer who alleged that she was assaulted. One of the two accused, Bhupenda Rajput resident of Rajgarh was arrested and produced before court. We sought remand of the accused for one day” Sharma added. “We have pictures of other accused but he is yet to be identified,” he said.

In the meantime, local BJP workers handed over a complaint urging the police to register a case against district collector Nidhi Nivedita.

On Sunday, despite prohibitory orders BJP workers led by former MLAs Amar Singh Yadav, Mohan Sharma and district president of BJP Dilbar Singh Yadav, took out a ’tiranga yatra’ in support of CAA in Biaora town. The situation took an ugly turn when district collector and another female officer had to take control of the situation. They lost their cool and it is alleged that they slapped protestors. Later officials lodged a complaint and cases on which two separate FIRs wee registered one under section 354 (molestation) on the complaint of a female officer that she was assaulted. The second FIR was for violation of section 144.

The district administration is on its toes ahead of a BJP protest to be held on Wednesday in Biaora against the top officials including the collector. The BJP leaders will take part in the protest to demand registration of FIR against the Rajgarh.

BJP has been granted conditional permission for staging dharna in Biaora on Wednesday but the district administration has asked BJP leaders to ensure that they deploy their own volunteers for traffic and parking management at the site of the protest. “We are keeping a close vigil on the situation. About 350 personnel would be deployed on the site. Few personnel would be kept on standby to tackle any law and order situation,” Rajgarh SP Pradeep Sharma tod reporters.

Meanwhile slamming the state government for the Rajgarh incident union minister of state for tourism Prahald Patel said the manner in which BJP workers were treated by the district officials reflects to the inhuman face of Kamal Nath government. Patel said “The Rajgarh incident is condemnable. The video clearly shows those who were involved in the attack on BJP workers and who was beating them. If no action is taken against officials, it would be a shame. The CM should understand this.”

Besides the Rajgarh district violent incident, another interesting episode took place in the nearby Dewas district. The incident involved MP Minister Jitu Patwari and BJP Member of Parliament Mahendra Singh Solanki. The two clashed over the question of protocol. The issue was who should sit on which chair. Both were attending a meeting at the district headquarters. Things got so heated that Patwari threatened to send Solanki out of the meeting and BJP leader shot back that Jitu will never be a minister again.

The meeting, to review development projects in Dewas got into trouble from the word ‘go’. Solanki raised objection to the seating arrangement and expressed displeasure over Dewas Congress president Manoj Rajani taking part as a ‘representative’ of PWD minister Sajjan Singh Verma. (IPA Service)