Bhopal: Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday to take action against him in the Elgar Parishad case.
His comments came against the backdrop of the Pune police stating on Monday that a letter seized in connection with the Elgar Parishad probe referred to a mobile number purportedly belonging to Singh. A Pune police official, earlier in the day, said the letter in question was made part of the chargesheet against the activists arrested for alleged Maoist links in connection with the Elgar Parishad case. The letter was seized during nationwide raids conducted by the Pune police in connection with the case, following which the activists were arrested, the official said.
Talking to reporters here, Singh said, “If Digvijay Singh is involved in any anti-national activity, then Modiji, Rajnathji and Fadnavisji are free to take action. Show the courage to take action.” Speaking about the phone number in the letter, the Congress leader said, “The phone number they are talking about has been in the public domain through the Rajya Sabha portal. Thousands of people know that number. I stopped using it around four years ago.” Singh claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were afraid of him and therefore, vitiating the atmosphere against him.
“I have neither feared them, nor will I be scared of them in the future,” he said. “Earlier too, the Madhya Pradesh chief minister (Shivraj Singh Chouhan) had termed me anti-national. I had surrendered before the Madhya Pradesh police, which gave me in writing that it had no proof against me, nor was there any case registered against me,” Singh added. The letter in question, dated September 25, 2017, is written by an alleged Naxal operative.
A portion of the letter reads: “We must intensify nationwide protests using students. The state forces will be soft against students, which will gradually put the state at a disadvantage while acting against us. Congress leaders are very much willing to assist in this process and have also agreed to fund further agitations…. In this regard, you can contact our friend at (the phone number of Digvijay Singh according to the police)”. However, the Pune police Monday said several numbers were found in the letters seized during the raids and that all of those were being probed.
No one was summoned for questioning in this connection, Pune police officials added. The Elgar Parishad was held on December 31, 2017 in Pune to commemorate 200 years of the 1818 Koregaon-Bhima battle, in which the East India Company forces, comprising a large number of Dalit soldiers, had defeated the Peshwa army. The conclave, the police alleged, had led to violence at the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial in Pune district the next day, following which a probe to uncover Maoist links was launched. The probe had led to the arrest of 10 activists in June and August.