Protests in Gujarat against Union MOS intensify after 3 detained for burning effigy

PROTESTS AGAINST Union MOS Parshottam Rupala, the BJP’S Lok Sabha candidate for the Rajkot seat in Gujarat, over his remarks on the Kshatriya community intensified on Sunday.

Protesters gathered at a police station in Rajkot after three men were booked for rioting and damage to public property for burning an effigy of Rupala the day before. However, hours later, the police dropped the sections related to damage to public property from its FIR. The three accused, all residents of Rajkot, were granted bail on Sunday evening, officers said.

“We had included the section of the Damage to Public Property Act initially as the accused had burnt the effigy on a public road. However, during the panchnama conducted by the police of the spot in the presence of a city engineer of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC), the city engineer certified there is no major damage to the road. Therefore, we have deleted that section from the FIR,” Raju Bhargava, Rajkot city police commissioner, told The Indian Express.

Bhargava added that the section on criminal conspiracy was invoked as the act of burning the effigy was “premeditated”.

The Kshatriya community has been protesting against Rupala since a video of his address at an event organised by the Valmiki Dalit community went viral on March 23. In the video, he is heard saying: “Others also ruled us. So did the British and they spared nothing to persecute. Even the kings bowed down. They broke bread with them and married their daughters to them. But my Rukhi (Dalit) community neither changed their religion nor established such ties ...”