Ratlam: Stones were pelted at Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s vehicle during his Jan Ashirwad Yatra in Ratlam district on Tuesday, just a fortnight after a similar attack in Sidhi.
The incident occurred after police officials tried to disperse some protesters in Kalukhedi village, who in turn pelted stones at the cops and injured an SHO and two constables.
Amid the chaos, an unidentified person hurled a stone at Chouhan’s vehicle, shattering one of the windowpanes, a police personnel said. Officials handling the probe did not rule out the possibility of organisations opposing the SC/ST Act behind the attack.
An officer also said the Karni Sena wielded considerable influence in the area where the incident occurred. The Sena was one of the leading organisations involved in the protests against the Act in Madhya Pradesh.
State home minister Bhupendra Singh said two suspects had been arrested so far and stringent action would be taken against the culprits. He added that no evidence pointed to the involvement of the Congress in the attack.
The attack on Chouhan’s convoy in Sidhi on September 2 had sparked off a war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. The chief minister too had accused the Congress of baying for his blood, adding that, “This has never happened in the politics of Madhya Pradesh. It was always a battle of ideologies.”
“I want to ask Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Congress state president Kamal Nath, in which direction do they wish to take the Congress? Is it fine what their leaders and workers are doing?” Chouhan was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. Nine suspected Congress workers were arrested for the incident.
However, the controversy did not die down there as 23-year-old man “eyewitness” alleged that police forced him to "falsely" testify against the accused for pelting stones at Chouhan’s vehicle.
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