Minister Who Got The Loudest Cheers Has A Murky Past
NB: The new government starts off by reminding us of what the Bajrang Dal can do, and has done; and how our system provides impunity to a certain class of activist. Communalism has undermined Indian justice for decades, will it ever recover? Wait for the whataboutery of op-ed pundits DS
When Pratap Chandra Sarangi, a BJP MP from Balasore Odisha, took oath on Thursday to join Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, he received “thunderous applause” from the crowd that had gathered at the Rashtrapati Bhavan for the swearing-in ceremony. After Sarangi’s victory, and especially after the response he received on Thursday, multiple media reports (here, here and here) had described him as a bachelor who leads a “simple life” in a “humble house”
When Pratap Chandra Sarangi, a BJP MP from Balasore Odisha, took oath on Thursday to join Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, he received “thunderous applause” from the crowd that had gathered at the Rashtrapati Bhavan for the swearing-in ceremony. After Sarangi’s victory, and especially after the response he received on Thursday, multiple media reports (here, here and here) had described him as a bachelor who leads a “simple life” in a “humble house”
Few of them, however,
mentioned that he was the state unit chief of the Bajrang Dal in 1999, when
Graham Staines, an Australian Christian Missionary, and his two minor
children were burnt alive by activists of the right-wing outfit
in the village of Manoharpur-Keonjhar. Staines and his sons, aged
10 and 6, were murdered by a mob for allegedly forcible converting Hindus in
the area. While prime accused Dara Singh, a member of the Bajrang Dal,
and his aide Mahendra Hembram are serving life sentences, Sarangi was never
even questioned in the case.
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A 2003 report in Frontline says that a commission appointed by the
central government had not even examined the role of the Bajrang Dal because it
was not an illegal organisation, suggesting that legal organisations could not
plan or carry out such heinous crimes. Sarangi, the report said, had denied the
involvement of Bajrang Dal activists in the incident and had not even been
cross-examined. Sarangi, who has also
been a part of the VHP, was also involved in an attack on the Odisha Assembly
in 2002. He was arrested along with 66 others on charges of arson,
rioting and damage to government property. According to his affidavit, Sarangi has
10 criminal cases against him, even thought he has never been convicted in
any of them.
None of this information has made it to the fawning articles
written about his simplicity. PTI reported that Sarangi has
created a social media buzz because he lives in a thatched house and bathes in
the village well. He reportedly depended on party members and rode in auto
rickshaws to campaign in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Sarangi was elected to
Odisha Assembly twice in 2004 and 2009 from Nilagiri constituency in Balasore
district. He had also contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Balasore
constituency but was defeated. Sarangi holds two portfolios - Minister
of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises as well as Animal Husbandry,
Dairying and Fisheries
https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/pratap-sarangi-minister-odisha-graham-staines-bajrang-dal_in_5cf0e08be4b0a1997b683fd8?utm_hp_ref=in-homepage