On 16 April 2020, a lynching of two Hindu Sadhus of Juna Akhara and their driver took place in the presence of police in Gadchinchale Village, Palghar District. BJP the opposition in Maharashtra kept silent for 66 hours, and almost after two days, Devendra Fadanvis issues statement. His reaction came when social media was flushed with outrage over the lynching of two sadhus at Palghar with various videos and pictures. Nobody knows who posted the video first and how did he or she got access to it.
The question here is, why BJP reacted to incidence so late? Whereas BJP has its prominent existence in Palghar and their Sarpanch could have informed the party chief about the same. Once Devendra passed statement, then several BJP leaders accused the Uddhav Thackeray government of failing to protect the two sadhus who were on their way to Gujrat.
Meanwhile, 101 villagers have been arrested by the Maharashtra police on charges of murder of the three men. On 22 April, Maharashtra Home Minister, Anil Deshmukh posted a complete list of people arrested, and said that none of the people arrested were Muslims.
BJP’s national spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged that the members of CPI(M) and Nationalist Congress Party were present at the time of lynching. He said the State government must clarify what these party leaders were doing at the site when the lynching took place. Whereas “Gadchinchle village is a stronghold of the BJP and even the sarpanch Chitra Choudhari belongs to the party. Many BJP workers have already been arrested in the lynching case. There are photos available which show them felicitating former BJP MLA Pascal Dhanare,” the statement issued by Home minister stated.
The left party’s statement demanded an inquiry into whether the vehicle used by the victims had the required permit to travel, and also why they did not travel by national highway. “Why did the car go through remote areas on the border of Maharashtra and the Union Territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli instead of taking the direct National Highway from Mumbai to Surat? Why was it allowed to proceed to the remote and deserted area late in the night and by whom?” it asked.
The Congress, too, slammed the BJP for fanning hatred and fake news. Party spokesperson Sachin Sawant said, “Amit Shah calls Thackeray after every incident, but he never called the Gujarat CM after Surat incident or call Yogi Adityanath over lynching in U.P. It shows that the BJP is playing to defame Maharashtra and nothing else.”
