Bjp Leaders Murder Brings Crime To Centrestage In Up Politics

The murder of senior state BJP leader Brahma Dutt Dwivedi, allegedly by Congress leader Vijay Singh, shows that criminals have come to the centrestage of politics in Uttar Pradesh. The battle for political supermacy is being decided by the gun.

Dwivedi was the emerging political leader in the area and had already ensured the Congress partys defeat in Farrukhabad district. In the Lok Sabha elections, Salman Khurshid had lost from the district, while in the subsequent Vidhan Sabha elections, the BJP had won handsomely from the area.Vijay Singh, named in the FIR, was brought into the Congress party by Salman Khurshid, who was instrumental in giving him the ticket to contest the elections against Dwivedi.

 

Dwivedis assassination is a major setback for the BJP in the Yadav dominant belts of Kannau, Farrukhabad and Etawah. He was also in line for the state party presidentship.

The murder has been interpreted in varius ways. UF leaders point out that it was the outcome of gang warfare, while BJP maintains that it was a political murder.

The administration has acted in a manner which suggests that it was also trying to create an impression that the murder was the outcome of gang rivalry. The home department released the list of cases against Vijay Singh, which includes 5 cases of murder, and about eight cases under Sec 307 (attempted murder). Similarly, they also released a list of cases pending against Dwivedi, which included one under Sec 302, of 1986 and others under DIR or Misa. It also released the list of cases which are pending against Updesh Singh Chauahan, the criminal-politician now in jail for the murder of a Samajwadi party leader, Raju Dixit, Chauahan was earlier an associate of Mulayam Singh Yadav and had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections against him on a BJP ticket from Mainpuri.