Less than a month after gangster Anandpal Singh was killed in an encounter, the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan wilted under pressure of the Rajput community for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the case.
Singh, who had six murder cases registered against him, died in an encounter by the Rajasthan police’s Special Operation Group on 24 June in a village in Churu district. His family members and relatives, however, alleged that he was willing to surrender but was eliminated due to a political conspiracy.
They said if he was caught alive, he would have revealed names of politicians, especially from the BJP, who were associated with him.
Singh was cremated on 13 July under heavy police protection.
Protests Erupt
Singh was a Ravana Rajput. But the pressure for a CBI investigation into the case mounted from other Rajput communities, too.
On 12 July, thousands of people gathered from all over Rajasthan in Nagaur district’s Sanwarda – the village to which Singh belonged – in a condolence meet. Violence erupted during the meeting in which 33 people, including 30 policemen, were injured and one person was killed.
Gangster With a Long Crime Record
Singh had a long criminal record. A total of 37 cases, including six for murder, were registered against Singh between 1992 and 2017. He had escaped from police custody in September 2015. He was only located by the police on 24 June 2017 when he was killed in an encounter.
For almost 21 months, he was missing. Many believed he had political shelter. Even Rajputs alleged that he was eliminated to save some in Raje's cabinet who had given him political cover or patronage that had earlier facilitated his escape from police clutches in 2015.
The BJP government remained adamant for only an SIT inquiry into the encounter. But with protests growing louder, it agreed to a CBI inquiry.
Appeasing the Rajput Vote Bank
The Rajput community has traditionally supported the BJP. Since the party did not want to lose the vote bank, the government agreed to a CBI inquiry after feedback from its Rajput MLAs and party functionaries, political analysts told The Quint.
The BJP was afraid of the Congress latching onto the issue and trying to make inroads into their traditional vote bank. In a series of tweets, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had said that the government should hold a meeting with the protesters and should not refrain from seeking the CBI inquiry.
Threat Against Amit Shah’s Rally
The Raje government also did not want to risk any agitation during party chief Amit Shah’s visit to Jaipur from 21 July to 23 July, according to political observers. The Rajput community had threatened to organise a big demonstration on 22 July.
Political Implications
A division within the BJP is also making news. Narpat Singh Rajvi, a Rajput leader and son-in-law of former vice-president BS Shekhawat, had written to Amit Shah saying that the Raje government was discriminating against Rajputs after violence in the village in Nagaur district. He had said that Rajput men were being called to the police stations and were being unnecessarily harassed. This despite the fact that 90 percent of Rajputs vote for the BJP.
Another BJP senior leader Ghanshyam Tiwari had also questioned the Raje government over a CBI inquiry, and raised questions about the Rajasthan Home Minister GC Kataria not knowing about the encounter. Kataria, in response, said that he found out about it when Raje had called to congratulate him.
(This story was originally published on QuintHindi.)
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