Voices of dissent against Shivraj's 'bulldozer justice' getting shriller in MP

Bhopal, July 11  Enraged at Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government initiating a bulldozer action against urination incident accused Pravesh Shukla in Madhya Pradesh, the Akhil Bharatiya Brahmin Samaj (ABBS) has come out in support of the affected family.

Since Chief Minister Chouhan adopted his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath's "quick justice system" in Madhya Pradesh two years ago, this is perhaps the first time that a large section of people have raised voice against the "bulldozer" action, sources say.

Not because a Brahmin family's house has been bulldozed this time, as many houses of Brahmin families have been razed. It is because the parents are made to suffer for a crime they have no inkling about.

In this case, the house in which Pravesh Shukla has zero contribution has been brought down and his parents rendered homeless for no fault of theirs, they said.

Not only Brahmins, but people of other upper castes, including Kshatriya and Baniya of Sidhi district, have also extended their support to the family.

Even those who made the urination incident video viral, demanding stringent action for the "inhuman" act, say they were against Pravesh Shukla but not against his family.

Akhil Bharatiya Brahmin Samaj's Pushpendra Mishra has asserted that the state government should not have demolished the house as it is not in Shukla’s name.

IANS has learnt that in the three days, around 10 lakh donations were collected from the people of different castes and handed over to Shukla's father Ramakant Shukla for rebuilding his home.

Notably, two persons who donated the highest amount of Rs 50,000 each, belong to the Kshatriya (Thakur) caste.

In Sidhi district, most Thakur families are considered Congress supporters because of (late) Arjun Singh'e legacy and Brahmins with the Congress.

However, this incident seems to have united both these dominating castes, which may affect the ruling BJP in upcoming Assembly elections.

What is more ironic is that during a protest on Monday, Brahmin Mahasabha used a picture of a donkey to handover the memorandum to Sidhi police.

The community leaders said they are also considering moving the court against the BJP government’s bulldozer action.

Pushpendra Mishra, head of the MP unit of ABBS said, "Brahmin Samaj is against what Pravesh Shukla did and he deserves punishment. But, the state government should not have made his old parents and wife and sister homeless in this rainy season. What Shivraj Singh has done is totally wrong and we will take the issue to the court.”

In Rewa division which has - five districts - Satna, Sidhi, Rewa, Singrauli and Anuppur has strong domination of Brahmin and Thakur communities.

For instance in Sidhi, Lok Sabha MP and two out of the three MLAs belong to Brahmin community. Similarly, in Rewa, six out of eight MLAs hail from Brahmin and Thakur communities.