BJP workers’ murders in Bastar heats up Chhattisgarh politics

Three functionaries have been killed in the space of 10 days; party leaders accuse Congress government of launching ‘a proxy war through Maoists’

The murders of three BJP functionariesin the Bastar region allegedly by Maoists in the space of 10 days are at the centre of the latest political row in Chhattisgarh.

The BJP, which has raised the issue in Parliament and is planning to launch a major demonstration across Chhattisgarh on Friday, is now targeting the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government on law and order failure, even accusing it of launching “a proxy war by using Maoists as the front”.

The sequence of murders began on February 5 when Neelkanth Kakem, BJP divisional head of Bijapur district, was stabbed by alleged Maoists—for being a “police informer”. Five days later, Sagar Sahu, the party’s deputy chief of Narayanpur district, was shot dead at his home by two suspected Maoists. The third and the most recent killing was reported from another insurgency-affected district, Dantewada, where a former sarpanch Ramdhar Alami was hacked to death.

The BJP, which claims four of its workers have been killed in the region so far this year, has described the incidents as “target killings” and “political conspiracy”. It has urged the Centre to step in.

“These are target killings of four key office-bearers in the past one month. This is political conspiracy against the BJP and the Congress government has failed to provide security to the people of the State. The security cover of our people has been withdrawn. This is an attempt to make Chhattisgarh bleed,” said the BJP’s State president and Bilaspur Lok Sabha MP Arun Sao in Parliament on Monday.

“I demand an independent inquiry into the matter and request the Government of India to instruct the State government to save the lives of people of Chhattisgarh. This murder of democracy should stop and the State government should be instructed to carry out an investigation through an independent agency,” he added.  

J.P. Nadda, BJP’s national president, who visited Bastar last week also mentioned the murders to highlight the deteriorating law and order situation in the State.