Assault on Agnivesh puts House on boil

Already locked in dispute over land acquisition Bill and several other issues, the Government and the Opposition had a new one to fight over in the Assembly on Wednesday following the attack on spiritual and social leader Swami Agnivesh in Pakur on Tuesday. Charges were traded against each other forcing three adjournments and another washout of the House proceedings.

As soon as the proceedings began in the morning, Opposition in the form of JVM, Congress and JMM raised the issue of the attack on Agnivesh terming it deliberate and orchestrated by the ruling BJP. They demanded from Speaker Dinesh Oraon to allow their adjournment motion to be moved on this. The charge from the members provoked the ruling faction that saw some ugly exchanges.

Senior Minister in the Raghubar Das Government CP Singh who is holding Urban Development portfolio went on terming the Swami a foreign agent working against the culture and tradition of the country. "Please stop favouring foreign brokers like Swami Agnivesh. He is a person living on foreign funds and indulges in distorting the culture and tradition of the country by camouflaging with saffron attire. That is why attacks like this have been happening against him in the past as well," said the Minister, accusing  Agnivesh of himself sponsoring the assault.

Leader of Opposition Hemant Soren on his part grabbed it as an opportunity to attack the BJP and question its credentials. "It seems this is not the country of 125 crore people but of theirs only. Under their regime if you are not nodding to them you may be beaten up, slapped with cases and thrown into jail. Workers of BJP and related organisations are running amok all over," said

Soren outside. JVM's Pradeep Yadav and Congress' Alamgir Alam also criticised the brutality and questioned the intentions of the Government as follow-up action.

Agnivesh was brutally thrashed allegedly by members of the BJYM and some other like-minded people on Tuesday in Pakur where he was to attend a programme with Paharia primitive tribes. Important to mention here is that soon after the assault Chief Minister Raghubar Das constituted a panel of the Divisional Commissioner and DIG of Santhal Pargana to probe the incident. Local police had also apprehended some members of the rightwing organisations but later freed them for want of 'conclusive' evidence.    

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Neelkanth Singh Munda in order to pacify the members reiterated in the House that the Chief Minister had already ordered a probe immediately after receiving the information. But the Opposition continued with their slogans and trooped into the well demanding action against the guilty. This prompted the BJP members questioning the Opposition's silence over the Khunti gang-rape case that triggered pandemonium even further.

Having rejected the adjournment motion, the Speaker requested the members to allow the Question Hour to take place failing which he first suspended the House till 12:45 pm and later till 2 pm, just to meet to pass the first supplementary budget of Rs 2,597 crore.

Earlier, Agnivesh arrived in Ranchi in the morning to meet Governor Droupadi Murmu but failed as his appointment reportedly got cancelled. Before returning to Delhi he held a press conference flanked by JVM chief Babulal Marandi, Congress leader Subodh Kant Sahay and some others.

"I had sought an appointment with the Governor to apprise her about the cause of the tribals but it was cancelled     

without any reason. I had met the Governor last time as well and sought for her intervention as she is also a tribal. We all have to understand that fascism is a grave threat to all of us which would burn everything. I appeal to all the parties in the Opposition to join hands against such forces," said Agnivesh, gunning for the BJP and its sister organisations. He also termed the probe ordered as farce and instead demanded an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Jharkhand High Court into the incident.

Divisional Commissioner Dr Pradeep Kumar, meanwhile, told The Pioneer that the letter about investigating the incident had reached his office. "The letter has come today itself. We would go there and look into it on Thursday. There is no reason to delay the matter further and it may take a couple of days to submit the report to the Government," said the official.