Bhima Koregaon agitation was manufactured: BJP
New Delhi, June 7: The BJP on Thursday said that the Bhima Koregaon agitation in Maharashtra as "manufactured" and accused the Congress of using Dalits as a "tool" to come back to power.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also demanded an answer from Congress President Rahul Gandhi over a letter written after the agitation by Maoist leader concerning purported role of Congress in backing the outfit legally and financially.
The BJP's attack came a day after the Pune police arrested five people allegedly having close Maoist links, including prominent Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale from Mumbai, Lawyer Surendra Gadling, activist Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen from Nagpur and Rona Wilson from Delhi in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence on January 1.
"The hunger for power in the Congress has been exposed as never before to the series of documents and the series of facts that we are going to keep in front of you," BJP leader Sambit Patra told reporteres here at a press conference.
Attacking Congress over the alleged letter recovered from the house of Wilson in Delhi, Patra said, "Letter is an integral document of the Maoists. This letter is means of communication as to how violence can be perpetrated in this country."
Patra said that the Bhima Koregaon incident started on December 31, 2017 and culminated around evening on January 1, 2018 in which a youth lost his life. And the letter was written on January 2, 2018.
According to the BJP leader the letter was allegedly written by a core committee member of the banned outfit, CPI-Maoist, lauding the efforts by Rona and others to make Elgaar Parishad - organised by Dalit and left-wing organisations at Pune's Shaniwarwada on December 31 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon battle a success.
"But once you go through this letter and you will find that Dalits were being used as tools," the BJP leader alleged.
He also described the agitation in Bhima Koregaon as a "manufactured agitation" instead of a spontaneous one.
Referring to the contents of the letter, the BJP leader said, "Comrade Deepu and Comrade Manglu have been coordinating the Bhima Koregaon programme with Comrade Sudhir. They have got support from large sections of Dalits acrtoss the state and Comrade Jignesh (Mewani) and Comrade Umer (Khalid) are young fighters of our revolution."
"Last year in July and August the Higher Committee has provided two rounds of funds to Comrade Sudhir (Dhawale) for this task. Comrade Shoma (Sen) and Surendra are authorised to provide funds for future programmes as well. The Bhima Koregaon agitation has been very effective," Patra said.
"The death of a youth must be exploited to prepare future agitations and propaganda materials," he read.
"Can anyone of us think of exploiting the death of a youth? But here it is being done to exploit. It is conspired and a letter is written for that," he said.
"This is a culture which has been set time and again as politcial vulturanism on a dead body. You see a dead as an opportunity. And we condemn this," he said.
Hitting out at the Congress President, Patra said, Gandhi has to answer why he was standing with such people who were trying to break the nation.
"Senior comrades from CPI-Maoists leadership have had prior talks with our friends in Congress who suggested to continue Dalit mobilisation more aggressively whatever legal and financial aide is required they are ready to provide through the intermediary (Jignesh)," Patra said reading from the letter.
He also said that the letter proved that there was an "anti-India gang of urban naxals", who had been trying to subvert the country.
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59 percent voter turnout in first phase in J-K, polling peaceful: CEO
Jammu, Sep 18: A voter turnout of about 59 percent -- "the highest in the past seven elections" -- was recorded in the first phase of assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, Chief Electoral Officer P K Pole said.
However, these are tentative figures and may rise after the final reports are received about postal ballots, and from remote pockets like Marwah, Wadwan, Dachhan and Machail in Kishtwar, the officer said.
Briefing mediapersons here after polling ended at 6 pm, Pole said the elections -- which covered 24 seats in seven districts -- ended peacefully without any untoward incident.
There are reports of some minor incidents of scuffle or argument from a few polling stations but "no serious incident" occurred that could have forced a repoll, he said.
Over 2.3 million voters were eligible to cast the ballot to determine the fate of 219 candidates, including 90 Independents.
"The polling percentage of 59 percent is highest in the past seven elections -- four Lok Sabha polls and three assembly elections," he said, attributing the increase in the voter turnout to various factors including improved security situation, active participation of political parties and candidates and a campaign by the department.
He said Kishtwar district recorded the highest 77 percent turnout, while Pulwama district witnessed the lowest 46 percent.
Doda district recorded a turnout of 69.33 percent, Ramban district 67.71 percent, Kulgam district 61.57 percent, Anantnag district 54.17 percent and Shopian district 53.64 percent.
In the 2014 assembly elections, the district wise poll percentage was: Pulwama 44 percent, Shopian 48 percent, Kulgam 59 percent, Anantnag 60 percent, Ramban 70 percent, Doda 73 percent and Kishtwar 76 percent.
In Kishtwar districts, he said, the Padder-Nagseni segment recorded the highest 80.67 percent voting followed by Inderwal (80.06 percent) and Kishtwar (78.11 percent).
In the nearby Doda district, Doda west segment recorded 75.98 percent, Doda (70.21 percent) and Bhaderwah (65.27 percent).
In Ramban district, Banihal segment recorded 71.28 percent and Ramban 67.34 percent, he said.
Among the seven constituencies of Anantnag district, Pahalgam recorded the highest voter turnout at 67.86 percent, followed by Kokernag (58 percent), Dooru (57.90 percent), Srigufwara-Bijbehara (56.02 percent), Shangus-Anantnag (52.94 percent), Anantnag West (45.93 percent) and Anantnag 41.58 percent, Pole said.
In Pulwama district, the CEO said, the Pulwama segment witnessed 50.42 percent polling, followed by Rajpora 48.07 percent, Pampore 44.74 percent and Tral 43.21 percent.
In Shopian district, the Shopian segment recorded a voter turnout of 54.72 percent and Zainapora 52.64 percent.
In Kulgam district, D H Pora recorded a turnout of 68 percent, Kulgam 62.70 percent and Devsar 57.33 percent, Pole said.
He said seven districts of south Kashmir had been traditionally low poll percentage constituencies and in some of the past elections, the percentage had not even crossed the single digit.
Asked about a social media video purportedly showing a policeman losing temper and aiming his gun before being overpowered by his colleagues outside a polling station in Kishtwar, he said the district election officer and the returning officer concerned have taken note and issue was resolved amicably.
PDP and BJP candidates were involved in an argument at the polling station.
Pole expressed hope that the remaining two phases on September 25 and October 1 will also see high polling percentage.
Meanwhile, the election commission expressed satisfaction over the long queues of voters at the polling stations showcasing the entire world, the deep trust and confidence of the people of J&K in the democratic exercise.
The polling was held across 3,276 Polling Stations in the seven districts and 24 special polling stations set up for migrant pandits in Jammu, Udhampur and Delhi.
According to officials, 31.42 percent of the more than 35,000 eligible kashmiri migrant voters exercised their franchise. While 27 percent cast their votes at 19 polling stations in Jammu, 40 percent at four polling stations in Delhi and 30 percent at one polling station in Udhampur.
In each of the seven districts where voting was held in the first phase, the voter participation exceeded the participation during the Lok Sabha 2024 elections, the election commission said in a release.
The performance builds on the trend witnessed during the Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir which saw a voter turnout of 58.58 percent at polling stations, highest in the last 35 years.
Voting began at 7 am and proceeded steadily through the day. Men and women, the young and old, some too frail to walk and others patiently waiting their turn, queued up outside polling booths across Kashmir Valley and Jammu.
Security forces fanned out to ensure that there was no trouble. The day was largely without incident except for reports of clashes between political workers in some areas of Bijbehara and D H Pora.
