MP: Video Showing Alleged BJP Worker Urinating on Tribal man Stirs Political Row in Poll-Bound State

Bhopal: A three-month-old video of a man identified as Pravesh Shukla (30), allegedly associated with a sitting BJP MLA, urinating on a 36-year-old “mentally challenged” tribal man over wage overdue has created a political storm in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.

In the purported video of the incident that went viral on Tuesday afternoon, Pravesh Shukla, a resident of Sidhi's Karondi village and alleged representative of a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Sidhi Assembly seat, Kedarnath Shukla, can be seen urinating on the tribal labourer, Dashmat Rawat, when he went to seek his overdue wage.  

After the 10-second video created an uproar on the social media with Congress attacks on the government, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan tweeted, "A viral video has come to light and I have asked the district administration to take stringent action and also invoke NSA against the accused."

The tweet came after Sidhi Police lodged an FIR against Shukla at Behri police station under Section 294 and 504 of the IPC and Section 3(1) (r) (s) SC / ST Act.

Speaking to Newsclick, Behri police station in-charge, Pawan Singh, said, "A case has been registered against the accused identified as Pravesh Shukla under the relevant section of the IPC. We took action after the video came to light."

After several photos, pamphlets and news cuttings of Pravesh Shukla's association with the BJP MLA came to the fore, opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh alleged that Pravesh was the representative of BJP's sitting MLA from Sidhi, Kedarnath Shukla.

In a video, Madhya Pradesh Youth Congress president Vikrant Bhuria accused BJP leaders of having a “poor mindset” when it comes to the tribals. In a video to the media, Bhuria said, "The man in the video is Pravesh Shukla, who is an MLA representative of BJP MLA Kedarnath Shukla. The act of Pravesh Shukla shows what BJP really thinks of tribals of MP. The CM giving tribals a helicopter ride will not change the ground reality. It is not surprising that after 18 years of BJP rule, crime against tribals is the highest in the state. The BJP should apologise to the entire tribal community."

However, the MLA refuted the allegations saying, "Pravesh Shukla is not my presentative nor any postholder of the BJP, he is a voter of my constituency whom I know. An MLA can appoint three representatives, one at zilla panchayat, nagar panchayat and at janpad panchayat. At nagar palika, my representative is Dinesh Gupta, at janpad panchayat it's Uma Shankar Yadav and Sumant Dwivedi at zilla panchayat. I have never appointed him (Pravesh) in any post."

Shukla also put up a Tweet denying his association with the accused.

When questioned over posters and newspaper articles referring to Pravesh Shukla as his representative, the BJP leader said, "It appears that he misused my name to create his own cult in the region."

According to locals, it's a three-month old video shot at Karondhi village when the victim Dashmat Rawat was heading toward Karondhi market and met Pravesh on the way. Pravesh was then under heavy influence of alcohol and when Rawat sought his overdue wage, Shukla not only thrashed him but also pissed on him.

"Pravesh not only thrashed Dashmat but also beat up another villager and asked him to shoot the video. Fearing Pravesh, the other villager agreed and shot the video using Dashmat’s mobile phone itself. Later, Pravesh shared the video with the other villagers and also with the other villagers, and a few weeks later it went viral," a resident of Karondi village told NewsClick, requesting anonymity.

The locals claimed that since the accused and the victim were residents of the same village and the latter belongs to the marginalised class, his family did not lodge the complaint out of fear.

Rawat belongs to the Kol tribe which is the largest tribal community in the Vidhya region, with a population of over 11.67 lakh in the 2011 Census. The indigenous voters play a decisive role in over two dozen Assembly seats of the region comprising seven districts. Considered loyal voters of the saffron party, the BJP has held two mega events in the last three months to woo Kol voters.

The viral video may also water down the BJP's tribal outreach programme which it started after losing half of the tribal seats in 2018 Assembly polls. In the 2018 elections, of the 47 reserved ST (Scheduled Tribe) seats, BJP managed to win 16 seats as opposed to 31 ST seats it had won in the 2013 Assembly elections. Out of 230 Assembly seats in MP, 47 are reserved for STs and 35 for Scheduled Castes.

Accounting for 21% of the state's population, Madhya Pradesh has the highest tribal population in the country. The state has 46 recognised STs, of which three are Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) spread across the 52 districts in the state.