Why Jayant Sinha felicitating Ramgarh killers shouldn’t take us by surprise
Ranchi: Indian Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha is receiving the flak for garlanding eight killers who had lynched Alimuddin Ansari in Ramgarh for allegedly transporting beef. The politician, an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-Delhi) and Harvard University Alumni had met the accused who had been granted bail and felicitated, on Friday.
But they should not be surprised, as this is not the first time that the minister has supported the Ramgarh killers. In fact, Jayant Sinha, the son of former External Affairs and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha had written to Raghubar Das, the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry, immediately after the fast track court at Ramgarh awarded life imprisonment to the 11 accused, in the case.
However, this time because of the outrage on social media, the union minister had to tweet four times in his defence, only to find that there were no takers for his excuses. In fact, most of the Twitterati were in a mood to give only strong reactions.
Some were blunt enough to remind him about paying a visit to the victim Alimuddin Ansari’s family. While some chose to take a jibe by reminding him that he did not get time to meet the families of his own constituency in Hazaribagh who has been abducted in Afghanistan, along with six others from India.
Let’s see how netizens reacted to the excuses of the 55-year-old MP from Hazaribagh:
Hazaribagh-based journalist, Vishvendu Jaipuriar, maintains that Sinha, a former venture capitalist was known as a corporate person before 2014 Lok Sabha election and sees another reason in Hazaribagh MP felicitating Ramgarh killers. “In 2014, Jayant Sinha had become Member of Parliament from Hazaribagh because of Yashwant Sinha. Later, he went on to become the Minister of State, but he could not do away with the corporate culture and has distanced himself from the people of his constituency. So, garlanding Alimuddin’s killer is a shortcut to impress party’s core voters.”
According to sources, a senior upper caste BJP leader, who has been Jharkhand’s state president, is trying to get BJP’s ticket from Hazaribagh for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The ticket seeker is a hardliner. Understanding the situation, Sinha, who till now enjoyed the image of being a moderate has decided to stand with the killers of Alimuddin. Also, at a time when Sinha’s stand is being condemned by all, none from the BJP has uttered a word about the same.
But after two days of silence, Yashwant Sinha, reacted on his son’s act and tweeted:
“Earlier I was the Nalayak Baap of a Layak Beta. Now the roles are reversed. That is twitter. I do not approve of my son’s action. But I know even this will lead to further abuse. You can never win (sic).”
Yashwant Sinha had termed the present situation of India under Narendra Modi as a Communal Emergency. Significantly, Yashwant Sinha has left BJP too, and been vocal on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the policies of his government.
