NABARANGPUR/BHUBANESWAR: Even as Nabarangpur police on Friday booked former MP Pradip Majhi for inciting party workers to resort to violence during a bandh to protest police inaction in the alleged rape and murder of a minor girl, the Congress leader remained unrepentant saying that patience has a limit.
A video of the former MP giving instruction to a party worker to keep petrol and diesel ready to set everything on fire during the bandh went viral. “Keep petrol and diesel ready. The moment you get an instruction, set everything on fire. We will see what happens next,” Majhi told the party worker over phone in the video.
As his instructions to party workers drew all round condemnation, the former MP said, “We believe in non-violence. But, everything has a limit. Despite our all out efforts, the police do not take action against culprits. Therefore, we are forced to give such threatening.”
Meanwhile, police have registered a suo motu case against the Congress leader and 15 others for instigating violence while staging protest on Thursday under Sections 147 (rioting), 341 (wrongful restraint), 353 (assault), 283 (obstruction of public way), 506 (criminal intimidation), 435 (mischief with fire), 120 (B) (conspiracy) of IPC and Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.
The former MP, however, said he was not worried about the case against him and 15 others. “Let the police book the people of the entire district. The police filed the case suo motu because no one from the public came forward to lodge a complaint. No one was harmed during the bandh,” he said.
Stating that his phone call was to put pressure on the Government, Majhi said the case against him is a strategy of police to suppress the voice of people who demand justice. “They have filed a case against me and others while the rapist and murderers are roaming free. Why the police have not arrested the culprits involved in the heinous crime,” he asked.
Criticising Majhi for instructing party workers to resort to violence, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said Congress is scared. State BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra alleged that Congress leaders across the country have resorted to violence. “They have done it everywhere during anti-CAA protest. Majhi has now done it in Odisha,” he said.
BJD spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra also condemned Majhi and said it is a mark of protest.However, president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Patnaik said he has sought clarification from Majhi over his statement. “There has been a spate of crimes against women, particularly young girls. Majhi’s anger is understandable,” he said.