A Congress lawmaker in Madhya Pradesh is heard egging on a crowd of protesters to “burn the police station down” in a video that has been widely shared online. Shakuntala Khatik was part of a farmer protest, one of the many in the state over the past few days.
The Congress’s Kerera MLA can be seen telling people, “thane mein aag laga do, aag laga do (set the police station on fire),” while a policeman can be seen requesting her to leave.
However, Shakuntala dismissed these charges by saying that police misbehaved with her. She alleged that these are false allegations and water cannons were used on her.
The MLA was leading a protest march during which his supporters burnt the effigy of CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the recent killing of farmers in police firing in Mandsaur.
In a bid to douse the fire, local police party poured water on the effigy during which the MLA was partially drenched.
Irked with this, the lawmaker sat on a protest and clashed with the policemen.
With the incident getting media attention, the Congress lawmaker later denied any wrongdoing and even blamed the police for misbehaving with her.
Reacting to the incident, BJP leader Nitesh Bajpai said the incident shows the dirty politics of Congress in the state.
The inflammatory speech was caught on camera and posted by Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga on social media and was also shared by Madhya Pradesh BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya.
Congress MLA Shakuntala Khatik inviting people to burn police station in MP.. Shameful! pic.twitter.com/2dX4PmI6bm
— Tajinder Bagga (@TajinderBagga) June 9, 2017
BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said, “Farmers are peacefully raising their issues but Congress leaders and workers are indulging in violence. We have registered cases against them.”
On Thursday, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi provoked a five-hour showdown with the police in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh as he tried to go to Mandsaur to meet the families of five farmers killed in police firing on Tuesday.
The protests, which started over a week ago, escalated after the farmer deaths. Ms Khatik was leading one of the many marches in parts of Madhya Pradesh.
