BHOPAL: An FIR was lodged against former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and present Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Kamal Nath at Bhopal Crime Branch Police Station on Sunday for his controversial “Indian Variant” Coronavirus and “Aag Laga Do” remarks.
Nath, who is a former union minister and presently the MP Congress Committee president, was booked U/S188 IPC (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 54 of Disaster Management Act (false warning about disaster or its severity or magnitude, leading to panic) on the complaint by ruling BJP leaders, including MP minister Vishwas Sarang, local MLA Krishna Gaur, ex-Bhopal mayor Alok Sharma, and district BJP president Sumit Pachouri.
In the complaint, the ruling party leaders alleged that by making statements, like “Indian Variant” Coronavirus and “Aag Laga Do” at recent digital conference and press conference, Nath had defamed the country globally and created a sense of fear among the masses.
The BJP leaders also alleged in the complaint that by alleging that the MP government was hiding facts related to COVID-19 pandemic deaths, the senior Congress leader had actually misled the people and also created a sense of fear and panic among commoners.
In the complaint, the BJP leaders also alleged that not only did Nath malign the country’s image internationally through the “Indian Variant” remark, but also violated the World Health Organization (WHO) advisory/directions for not using any country/person/institution’s name to address the variant of global concern. The ruling party leaders demanded in the complaint that Nath also be booked for sedition and promoting enmity between groups through the remarks made at Friday’s digital conference and Saturday’s media interaction.
Reacting to the FIR against Nath, the MP Congress spokesperson Narendra Saluja accused the police of lodging an FIR against the ex-CM under pressure from the BJP government.
“The term Indian Variant was used by our leader while quoting national and international media reports and also statements of heads of other nations. The statements were made out of concern for the people of the state and the nation as a whole. This FIR which exposes the autocracy of the BJP government cannot stop us from fighting for public cause,” Saluja said.
On Friday and Saturday, the ex-CM had reportedly said last year the world was saying that the COVID-19 pandemic was caused by a Chinese virus.
“But now our country has become infamous due to Indian Corona or Indian Variant. Presidents and Prime Ministers of many nations are talking about Indian Variant,” Nath had said.
“The British PM has directed to cancel all flights from India, as his country is afraid of Indian Corona. Indian students and workforce are being denied entry in many nations, out of the fear of the Indian Corona getting transmitted. Indian cab drivers are not getting passengers for the same reason.”
“Earlier Mera Bharat Mahan was India’s worldwide identity, but now Mera Bharat COVID is the country’s new identity,” Nath had stated.
He had also alleged suppression and hiding of actual COVID-19 figures and facts.
“Around 1.27 lakh bodies have reached the smashan (cremation grounds) and kabrastan (graveyards) in the state during March and April and my guess is that 80% of those deaths happened due to COVID. I demand that the MP government should make public the figures of how many bodies reached cremation grounds/graveyards across the state in March-April 2021.”
Also, a controversy had erupted in MP on Saturday, over a 20 seconds video of Nath seemingly urging Congress workers to 'set fire' ('Aag Laga Do') in order for the farmers to 'get justice.' The 20-seconds video has been released by the state's BJP unit. In a 20-second-long video shared by BJP leader Lokendra Parashar, Kamal Nath can be seen addressing a virtual meeting and is heard telling the Congress workers that it was the right opportunity to 'set fire' ('aag laga do') and that the farmers would get justice.