BJP mounts attack on Cong after priest burnt to death in Rajasthan

A priest was set on fire by five people in Sapotra area of Karauli district in the Congress-ruled Rajasthan, triggering a political row.

Babu Lal Vaishnav succumbed to injuries on Thursday night after the accused — who wanted to encroach upon a temple land — poured petrol on him and set him ablaze near an agriculture farm.

The main accused, Kaialsh Meena, has been arrested.

While Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot asserted that the guilty won’t be spared, the BJP — which was on the defensive after the alleged rape and murder of a girl in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh — mounted an offensive against the Congress.

Also read — Priest burnt alive over land dispute in Rajasthan

Questions have also been raised over the role of the local MLA and the local Station House Officer, triggering a demand for a judicial enquiry.

A social media campaign has been launched, drawing parallels between the priest’s murder and the killing of two Sadhus in July in another Opposition-ruled state of Maharashtra. There were also voices of concern over “attempts to give a communal colour” to the priest’s case.

“The Sapotra incident is macabre. Criminals are tearing apart the dignity of Rajasthan during the rule of the Congress. Nobody is safe in the state. When will Rahul Gandhi, who goes on political tourism in BJP-ruled states, pay attention to Rajasthan,” asked former Union minister and BJP spokesperson Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.

Recalling Gehlot’s ‘nakara nikamma’ (useless, workless) jibe against Sachin Pilot, Rathore asked the Rajasthan CM to introspect in the context of his rule.

“Nobody is safe in Rajasthan today. Neither women nor children. The morale of the police is down. A government, which for months stays in a five-star hotel, can protect only itself, not its people,” he said.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar alleged that “law and order have gone for a toss in Rajasthan”.

“This is the situation when the chief minister himself is holding the home portfolio,” said Rajasthan BJP chief Satish Poonia, while former chief minister Vasundhara Raje asked the government to “wake up from slumber