Ghosi bypoll: Ink attack on BJP candidate sparks war of words

BJP candidate for Ghosi assembly bypoll Dara Singh Chauhan said the incident showed Samajwadi Party’s growing frustration

Black ink was hurled at BJP’s OBC candidate for Ghosi assembly bypoll Dara Singh Chauhan on Sunday while he was campaigning there where a bypoll is scheduled for September 5. The attack, which happened seconds after he was welcomed in Adri Panchayat (Adri Chatti) area of Ghosi with a garland by his supporters, caught Chauhan off guard as the attacker smeared his face with black ink before fleeing.

The attacker smeared Dara Singh Chauhan’s face with black ink before fleeing. (Sourced)

Just before the attack, Chauhan had attended a public meeting at a college in Kopaganj block, targeting his rival and SP loyalist Sudhakar Singh, a former lawmaker, who missed the 2022 contest due to Chauhan’s last-minute switch to the SP.

After the SP lost the 2022 U.P. polls to the BJP, Chauhan despite winning from Ghosi seat subsequently rejoined the BJP. The ink attacker was later identified by the police as one Monu Yadav.

The accused escaped after the attack even as the incident heightened political war of words between the BJP and the SP, both accusing each other of having a hand in the incident to defame the other. BJP’s ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party leader Arun Rajbhar too blamed the SP.

“These people (SP) who are capable of anything, much bigger crimes and hence this ink attack is nothing by their standards,” Chauhan said. “This also shows that the SP has read the writings on the wall. The popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.P. chief minister Yogi Adityanath is now making the SP nervous,” he added.

The SP dismissed the BJP charge. “Who knows? For political mileage, maybe some BJP people were behind the attack,” Samajwadi Party’s national secretary and state spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said.

“Politics is full of such baseless allegations,” Chaudhary said on BJP’s charge against the SP. The result of the Ghosi bypoll would be known on September 8.

Over the last couple of years, Uttar Pradesh has consistently witnessed ‘ink attacks’ on politicians. In 2020 and 2021, AAP politicians Sanjay Singh and Somnath Bharti respectively were subjected to ink attacks and in 2022 Kanhaiya Kumar was similarly targeted near the Congress office in Lucknow.