BHOPAL: Violent protests were witnessed during Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's Jan Ashirwad Yatra (JAY) on Sunday in the Assembly poll-bound Sidhi district, the home district of Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Vidhan Sabha Ajay Singh.
It all began at the CM's public meeting at Puja Park in Sidhi town, when a group of men sporting saffron stoles suddenly started raising ‘Shivraj Singh Murdabad’ and ‘Shivraj Singh Vapas Jao’ slogans in the middle of Chouhan's meeting.
One of them also hurled a slipper at the stage from where Chouhan was addressing the meeting. The security personnel escorting the CM immediately encircled him and three men, identified as Pramod Singh Parihar, Sanjay Mishra and Mrityunjay Mishra, all natives of Sidhi district, were taken into custody.
According to the Sidhi district police, the three arrested men are habitual offenders, against whom action has been taken in the past also for breach of public peace. It’s, however, not yet clear, how these habitual offenders managed to enter the CM's programme.
Sources however said the three men were among those who have been protesting against the recent passage of the Bill to amend the SC/ST Atrocities Act by the Parliament.
The second incident happened in Churhat town of Sidhi district (600 km from Bhopal), when a group of men showed black flags and raised anti-Chouhan slogans while the JAY was passing through the town, which forms part of LoP Ajay Singh’s Assembly constituency Churhat.
Sidhi police sources said the protestors were irked over the delay in construction of road in the area as well as the Parliament passing the Bill to amend the SC/ST Atrocities Act.
As many as 22 men were arrested from the spot and produced before court for breach of peace, after which they were sent into judicial custody.
Videos of the protest which have gone viral show one of the protestors standing near the door of the CM's vehicle and saying, "Mamaji Thakur Brahmin Ka Karein (what should the general category people, including Thakurs and Brahmins do?)."
In the third incident, people allegedly hurled stones at the CM's JAY vehicle in Patpara village (also part of Singh's Churhat Assembly constituency) at around 9.30 pm. The stones hit the vehicle and damaged its glasses, but the CM escaped unhurt.