Bhopal: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday dismissed its youth wing leader after a video purportedly showing him assaulting a tribal man with slippers triggered massive uproar in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, with the Opposition Congress accusing the ruling regime of failing to check atrocities against tribals. Accused Ganesh Dixit, however, claimed that he kicked the victim to “help him gain consciousness.”
According to the police, the incident took place on September 18 when 57-year-old Barnu Gond and his friend met with an accident near Jamudi village in Anuppur. While his friend, Bhoma Singh, died on the spot, Gond was left speechless due to the shock. As villagers tried to get Gond to speak, Dixit reached the spot and started assaulting him with a slipper for not sharing any information, an officer familiar with the matter said.
“Barnu Gond, a resident of Picharwahi village in Anuppur, was going from Rajendragram to Anuppur on a motorcycle with his friend Bhoma Singh (60) on Monday when a loading vehicle hit his bike near Jamudi village. Singh, who was injured on the head, died on the spot, while Gond went into shock,” Anuppur sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP), Sumit Kerketta, said.
Local residents were trying to inquire about Gond’s address and family when Dixit reached the spot and started thrashing him with sleepers for not sharing any information, he added. A video of the assault has since gone viral.
{{/usCountry}}Local residents were trying to inquire about Gond’s address and family when Dixit reached the spot and started thrashing him with sleepers for not sharing any information, he added. A video of the assault has since gone viral.
{{/usCountry}}Later, Gond filed a police complaint against Ganesh Dixit and his aide Jitendra Kushwaha, who is a local villager. However, the BJP claimed that he was a Congress leader. BJP media in-charge Rajesh Singh said, “Jitendra Kushwaha is a leader of youth Congress from Anuppur.”
Congress refuted the allegations. Congress Youth leader Guddu Chauhan said, “BJP leader is lying. Jitendra Kushwaha is neither a worker nor leader of Congress.”
Based on the complaint, the police have booked Dixit, a mandal president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), and Jitendra Kushwaha under Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
Dixit, however, maintained: “Bhoma Singh was alive after the accident. We asked Barnu Gond to remain calm and help take Singh to the hospital, but he started abusing us instead. For more than an hour, as we tried to calm Gond, Bhoma died. This forced me to beat him up.”
The incident has triggered a political slugfest with the Opposition Congress alleging that the BJP is becoming a “party of tribal atrocities”.
Sharing a video of the assault on X (formerly Twitter), Congress’s state unit chief Kamal Nath said: “Shivraj Singh Chauhan ji, you cannot ignore this gruesome video. Next to the dead body of a tribal man in Anuppur district, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader is seen beating another tribal man with slippers. Bharatiya Janata Party is becoming a party of tribal atrocities.”
“What do you want? When you cannot stop atrocities on tribals then at least resign from the post of chief minister,” he added.
The incident comes months after video showing local BJP leader Pravesh Shukla smoking a cigarette while urinating on Dashmat Rawat, a Kol tribal from Sidhi, triggered a political row in the state. Shukla was later arrested under the stringent National Security Act, and hours later the state authorities demolished a portion of his house “constructed illegally”.
BJP district president Ramdas Puri said Dixit has been expelled from the organisation. “The BJP believes in social service and there is no place for violence in the party,” he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.