Gyan Dev Ahuja, former BJP MLA from Ramgarh segment in Alwar, Rajasthan
Jaipur:
Rajasthan BJP team leader Gyan Dev Ahuja was caught on camera calling out a mob to “kill anyone involved in the slaughter of cows”, saying, “So far we’ve killed five people, be it in Lalawandi or Behror,” in a direct reference to the murders of Rakbar Khan and Pehlu Khan.
Both of those killings – one in 2017, one in 2018 – took place in Ramgarh, an area where Gyan Dev Ahuja was the MLA when the BJP took power in the state. It was not immediately clear which three other murders he was alluding to.
“I’ve given the killing workers their freedom. We’re going to get them acquitted and get bail,” he says in the video, which appears to be from earlier this week. All six defendants in Pehlu Khan’s murder were acquitted in 2019 but an appeal by the government’s Parliament is currently pending in high court. In Rakbar Khan’s murder, the trial is still ongoing in the local court.
After the video went viral on Saturday, the BJP leader was charged with causing discord in the community, under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code. He has made similar remarks before, saying that the killers are “patriots” and “true descendants of Chhatrapati Shivaji and Guru Gobind Singh”.
The BJP’s Alwar unit said today it is “his own view”. “The party doesn’t have this mindset,” BJP director Alwar South, Sanjay Singh Naruka told the new agency PTI.
But Mr Ahuja defended his stance: “Anyone involved in the smuggling and slaughter of cows will not be spared.” He revised his statement slightly: “I said five Meo Muslims who smuggled cows were beaten by our workers.”
In the video, he makes comments that add to the call of another speaker – he describes himself as a leader of the RSS – for an incitement against the murder of Chiranjilal Saini, 45 age, who was killed by a mob in the town of Govindgarh last Sunday on suspicion of tractor theft. BJP leaders and far-right groups have said it’s a religious leaning, though police have yet to find common ground.
Rajasthan Parliament Speaker Govind Singh Dotasra, who shared the video on Twitter today, said: “What more evidence is needed of BJP bigotry and religious persecution? The BJP’s true face has been exposed. show.”
Pehlu Khan, 55, was split up in Behror in April 2017; 28 years old Rakbar Khan in Lalawandi village in July 2018. Both are from Haryana and belong to the Meo Muslim community mainly involved in the dairy trade.
In 2019, all six men pulled Pehlu Khan by the neck, threw him to the ground, and kicked him repeatedly. acquitted by court in Rajasthan about the “benefit of the doubt”. The case has been in the high court since the state government led by Congress filed an appeal later that year.
Rakbar Khan’s murder trial is underway in local court, where his family has expressed concerns about bias.
