'Jungle raj' bogey rises to haunt BJP in UP amid Hathras, Balrampur gang rape cases

The alleged gangrape-murder cases of Hathras and Balrampur could not have come at a worse time for the BJP, raising the bogey of 'jungle raj' for its government in the state that sends 80 Lok Sabha MPs.

With this the BJP is now fighting on four fronts — The issue of farmers (after the passage of new farm bills), labourers (after the passage of new bills replacing some old provisions with amendments that have irked the Opposition), the disquiet of Muslim community after two judgements related to Ayodhya (decision in favour of Hindu side for temple construction in November last year and the exoneration of 32 Babri demolition case accused on Wednesday) and now the Scheduled Caste issue, a front which has more than often been proved to be a political nightmare for the ruling party.

This comes at a time when election campaign for Bihar polls scheduled in October-November is gaining momentum and Opposition parties are already putting their strategy in place for the Assembly polls in UP in 2022.

With old faultlines of Thakur-Dalit chasm existing in the state, the hurried reckless in the handling of the Hathras case — the burning of the victim’s body by the police away from the glare of her close relatives and a top UP police officer denying any rape even before SIT constituted to investigate the matter could begin the probe — has raised apprehensions among the SCs all the more after the macabre nature of the incident reported so far.

Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s move to march to Hathras, them being forcibly stopped by UP cops and the Congress highlighting how Rahul was “pushed and shoved” by cops while being prevented from going further are the visuals that could haunt the BJP.

Priyanka is the is in-charge of UP and is trying revive the moribund Congress in UP, which was once its bastion.

In 2017, when the BJP came to power ousting Akhilesh Yadav, one major poll plank of the BJP was the ‘jungle raj’ in UP.

The barb has now come to haunt it in past few months. On Thursday not only SP but Congress, NCP and BSP also revived the ‘jungle raj’ charge on Yogi Adityanath government.

“Instead of Kanoon Ka Raj, there is goondaraj in UP,” said Mayawati, whose reign has seen charges of widespread corruption but is considered an effective one on the law and order front.

NCP leader Anil Deshmukh said that instead of commenting on the affairs of other states, Yogi Adityanath should focus on ending the "jungle raj" in Uttar Pradesh and “it would be better if you focus on making ‘crime-free city’ instead of ‘Film city’ so that our sisters can be safe”.

"The jungle raj spread in UP has no limits. Law and order are not run by marketing and speeches," Priyanka said.

Union minister from BJP Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, however, dismissed Rahul-Priyanka’s march as “political tourism” telling them such incidents should not be politicised as they have many more occasions to do that.

Two days before Rahul is to lead a tractor rally from Punjab to the national capital against the farm reforms, Union minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday assured the farm community that the minimum support price will not only stay but will be continuously increased too in the coming years.